It took Uwharrie Charter six innings to figure out James Sawyer.

In the final inning, the Eagles came alive. Uwharrie Charter picked up one run in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth to rally and win game one, 2-1.

Game two will be tomorrow at 2 pm.

Sawyer hadn’t surrendered a run all night and just three hits going into the seventh. The Eagles got three hits in the last two innings for the come from behind win.

The game was a pitchers duel between Sawyer and Jake Hunter. Sawyer struck out 15 batters while Hunter fanned 11.

Uwharrie Charter’s Carter Brown had the walk-off single in the bonus inning for the win.

To start the eighth, Hunter didn’t give up a hit, striking out Holden Boykin in what was his final pitch of the night. Sawyer came back out in the bottom of the eighth, walking leadoff batter Troy Carver. Sawyer fanned Walker Wilkins for the first out, his 15th strikeout.

Caleb Stickle was able to get his first hit of the night, a double that moved Carver to third and Brown did the rest. Brown was one of the rare players who had success versus Sawyer, finishing with three hits, including the biggest one of the night.

The Eagles got a redo in the bottom of the sixth after it appeared they popped to center field for the final out. But Sawyer was called for a balk giving Caleb Stickle another shot at the plate. Stickle was thrown out at first and no damage was done.

That allowed the Panthers to head into the top of the seventh with a chance to add some insurance runs, nursing a one-run lead. Hunter stayed steady, not surrendering a hit as Northside-Pinetown went three up, three down. That set the stage for the Uwharrie Charter to pick up the win in the seventh inning.

Brown started off the seventh with a single off Sawyer. Trey Kennedy popped out in the infield for the first out, leaving Brown at first for the time being. Brown eventually stole second, his second stolen base of the game. Grat Dalton got good contact on the next Sawyer pitch, but it was caught in the outfield for the second out.

Landon Zephir stepped up, though, scoring Brown with a single to tie the game at one. Jose Ramirez took advantage of a wild pitch to get on first, giving the Eagles two runners on the bags, with two outs. The runners would stay there as Brown struck out Alex Carver to send the content into extra innings.

The first run of the game came in the top of the fifth inning when Northside-Pinetown’s Ashton Willard hit a single with one out. That hit put runners on the corners for the Panthers, but both were stranded.

In its short state championship history, Uwharrie Charter is undefeated (5-0) in title game series.

Source: highschoolot.com