WARNER ROBINS -- Even as he and his teammates navigated unfamiliar territory, Logan Fink never lost faith.
“We hadn’t been down before,” Fink said, “but we have a lot of good players and I knew we could come back.”
Georgia’s No. 8 hitter sparked a sixth-inning rally with a leadoff single and Jake Fromm delivered a decisive three-run homer as Georgia defeated Alabama 7-6 on Saturday in pool play of the Little League Southeastern Regional tournament.
The team from Warner Robins (2-0) had not faced a final-inning deficit throughout its tournament run dating back to early July. But that was exactly the situation Georgia faced Saturday after Alabama’s Kyle Chandler connected for a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning.
As a result, the team from Mobile (1-1) led 4-3 as Fink stepped in to lead off Georgia’s sixth. Fink battled Alabama reliever Gabe Shepard before grounding a single up the middle with two strikes.
“I was just trying to put the bat on the ball,” Fink said. “Hopefully I could find a hole.”
Shepard then hit Dillon Toms with a pitch. Suddenly, Georgia had life with runners at first and second, no out and the top of the order due up.
“Our mid to bottom hitters (in the order) have done a great job. They make contact, not many strikeouts,” Georgia coach Shane Williams said. “I thought our chances were pretty good if we could get a couple of hitters on base.”
Logan Arnett followed with a single up the middle. When the Alabama outfielder bobbled the ball coming up to throw, Fink came all the way around to score. With the game tied, the partisan crowd of some 3,000 fans roared its approval.
“It was pretty neat,” Fink said.
But Georgia’s fun was just beginning. Fromm, who yielded Chandler’s homer, delivered in the clutch again. For the second time in as many days, he launched a three-run homer and Georgia went up 7-4.
Georgia turned to its closer Trey Odom for the final three outs.
The game, however, offered still more drama. After striking out the first Alabama hitter, Odom ran into trouble. He walked Tyler Bazor before serving up a two-run homer to Andrew Livingston as Alabama closed to within a run.
“I didn’t have that much location,” Odom said.
He did come through for his team. Odom recorded the second out on strikes. Then, after Chandler slapped his third hit of the day up the middle for a single, Odom got Josh Lewis to line out to Fromm at shortstop.
Behind starter Jacob Giles, Georgia took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning. But in its half of the fourth, Alabama hitters locked in on the Warner Robins right-hander. Lewis and Micah Pepper had RBI hits in the inning as Alabama tied the game at 2.
Alabama’s starter, Pepper gutted out five innings while recording 85 pitches. He yielded a single to Georgia catcher Jordan Hampton that scored Giles with a run that gave Georgia a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the fifth.
