SWLL vs. SWLL showdown is a Bay County Little League Championship classic

Sheet Metal Workers batter Carl O'Loughlin stands in to hit during the Bay County Little League Championship. (Provided by Jessica Fisher) BAY CITY, MI – Call it a bonus battle. After battling all

Sheet Metal Workers batter Carl O'Loughlin stands in to hit during the Bay County Little League Championship. (Provided by Jessica Fisher)

BAY CITY, MI – Call it a bonus battle.

After battling all season for top honors at Bay City Southwest Little League, Sheet Metal Workers and Mr. Hot Dog got another chance to clash – and shine – in a Bay County Little League Championship classic.

SWLL champ Sheet Metal outlasted SWLL runner-up Mr. Hot Dog 9-5 in an eight-inning thriller under the lights at DeFoe Park. Both teams were down to their final outs and dramatically rallied to send the game into extra innings.

UPDATED Bay County Championship pairings and scores

Mr. Hot Dog took a 3-1 lead into the sixth and final inning of regulation, needing three outs for the upset. But two-time reigning County champion Sheet Metal showed what it is made of, scoring four times in the top of the sixth to snare a 5-3 lead.

With Mr. Hot Dog now facing its final swings, it too came through, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth to knot the game at 5-5.

That’s where it stayed until the eighth, when Sheet Metal plated four more runs then finished off the hard-fought win. Sheet Metal got three hits from Russ Gurnee on the night while Jace Melick, Roman Meyer and Sean Hawkins added two each. Joe Rivet, Coby Andrus and Carson Pope had one hit each in the win.

Andrus, the fourth pitcher of the contest, notched the win with 2.2 innings of no-hit relief for Sheet Metal.

Mr. Hot Dog got a double from Reis Kaniszewski and a single from Benjamin Super. Gavin Dore struck out 11 in 4.1 innings on the mound as the starting pitcher.

Mr. Hot Dog takes on Lions Club of Bay County Eastside at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in a must-win game. Sheet Metal advances to the winners bracket final of the double-elimination tournament to face Greater Bay’s Gephart Funeral Home at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The annual tournament brings together the champions and runners-up from Bay County’s three Little League baseball programs.

GEPHART 16, FOP 103 1

The later the game, the hotter the bats for Gephart Funeral Home.

The Greater Bay runners-up got stronger as the game went on, erupting for a 10-run fifth inning to secure a 16-1 win over Eastside’s FOP 103 in a winners bracket clash.

Gephart scored two in the second and three in the third before breaking it wide open in the fifth. Jett Gohr and Jett Schwall both had three hits in the win while Kaleb Straus, Easton Londry, Emmett Londry and Wyatt Metzler all delivered two hits. Drake Radtke came through with one hit in the victory. Easton Londry, Brooks Bernard and Gohr combined for a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

FOP got a single from Cam Pease and an RBI double from Kassidy McCure. Pease struck out eight as the FOP starter.

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SWLL vs. SWLL showdown is a Bay County Little League Championship classic