Bombers claim championship

The Thomasville Bombers didn’t expect to be in the Great South League Tournament, much less win it all. The Bombers appeared to be out of contention for the championship tournament, but won nine of their last 11 games to claim the title.
The Bombers took advantage of qualifying for the tournament by winning the tournament’s opening game against St. Augustine 8-6 last Thursday. Cairo’s Drew Johnson had a three-run homer in the win, and former Syrupmaker Hugh Russell Lee was 1-3 in the game. The Bombers advanced to the championship with a 4-3 win on Saturday against the East Alabama Big Train.
The Thomasville squad then claimed the Great South Championship with an 11-9 win over the Big Train late Saturday night. The Big Train forced a second game in the championship with a win over the Bombers in game one. The Bombers jumped out on top with 3 runs in the top of 1st. Adam Duncan hit a double, scoring Ruben Rodriquez and Drew Johnson. Tyler Davis had a sacrifice fly scoring Duncan.
The Big Train bounced back scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning and tied the game in the bottom of 4th. But the Bombers got back on top when Hugh Russell Lee drew a walk and Lance Lozan singled up the middle and Mitchell Herring drew a walk to load the bags. Hugh Russell then scored on a wild pitch to put the Bombers up 4-3.
In the 7th, the Bombers’ Johnson singled to right. Adam Duncan and Tyler Davis both walked to load the bases again, and a 3rd walk to Sho Kohata forced in Johnson to put the Bombers up 5-3. However, the Big Train battled back to score four runs and beat the Bombers 7-5.
In the deciding game, the Bombers got off to a slow start with the Big Train jumping out to a 3-run lead in the first and going ahead by 6 runs in the 3rd. In the top of 4th, Bombers’ Tyler Davis singled up the middle and Sho Kohata drew a walk. Hugh Russell Lee followed with a double, scoring Davis and Kohata.  
Still down 6-2 in the 5th, the Bombers scored 4 more runs to tie the ball game.
The Big Train answered with three more runs, but in the bottom of 7th Sho Kohata walked and Hugh Russell hit another double scoring Kohata, knotting the game at nine.
In the 8th inning Adam Duncan drew a walk, Tyler Davis hit a double off the back wall of Golden Park and Hugh Russell Lee hit a deep single over the middle, scoring Duncan and Davis, giving the Bombers an 11-9 lead.
In the top of the 9th, Big Train had runners on second and third with one out. East Alabama’s batter then drove one over second, but right fielder Drew Johnson made a great catch for out number two and ran to second base to tag the base for an unassisted double play and the 3rd and final out. With that spectacular play, the Bombers claimed the title 11-9.
“We were the number nine seed and won the championship! It was amazing, we were able to win nine of our last eleven games,” said Manager Linda Johnson. “It was a great feeling, I’m happy for the boys. The bats started swinging and the pitching got better every game and we started to gel,” said coach Bobby Rodriguez.