Jun 19, 2009 3 min read

FARMINGTON – Farmington and Carmichaels entered Monday’s game looking for their first win of the year in the Fayette County Legion Baseball League. Farmington was able to push across two runs in the bottom of ninth to nip Carmichaels 12-11 to stop its seven-game slide. “The season hasn’t gone too well so far, but the kids hung tough and showed a lot of heart today,” Farmington manager Cliff Clipp said. “We had a little more depth than Carmichaels tonight and the kids we pulled off the bench stepped up and helped us. I’m real proud at the way they played today.”

Carmichaels jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second, with Nathan Keller and Bill Musgrove driving in runs.

Farmington came back to tie the score in the bottom half of the inning, as Anthony Sparks forced in a run on a fielder’s choice, and James Stambaugh drove in two with a base hit. Farmington added another run in the bottom of the third when Don Gray singled, stole second and third and scored on an error, giving Farmington a 4-3 lead.

Carmichaels regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth when Nick Clarke singled to drive in both runs making the score 5-4. Farmington got those runs back in the bottom half of the inning when Nate Fisher drew a walk, stole second and scored on a single from Vince Klickner. An error in left on the play allowed Klickner to move to second. Sparks laid down a sacrifice bunt, but beat the throw. Klickner managed to score on an error giving Farmington a 6-5 lead.

Carmichaels made the score 9-6 picking up four runs in the fifth. They took advantage of an error, and a two-run single by Anthonie Farrar to regain the lead.

“We lost a tough one today. The kids played hard but we made some mistakes especially late in the game which cost us,” Carmichaels manager Ed Minor said. “We were a little short on pitching today. We have a lot of games to make up because of the high school playoffs. We’ve got to rotate a lot of people to try and save their arms and get through the game.”

Farmington scored two in the bottom of the sixth to close to within one, 9-8. Carmichaels added another run in the top of the seventh to go up 10-8. Farmington came back with two runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the score.

In the top of the ninth, Farrar had a two out single for Carmichaels. Clarke followed with a base hit. The throw went to the cut-off man, and Farrar broke from third. The throw was in time but Farrar was able to knock the ball loose to score making the score 11-10.

In the bottom half of the inning, Ethan Clipp singled to lead off and was replaced by pinch runner Mike Payton. Dylan Shaffer followed with a hit and managed to move to second. Wayne Rishel drew a walk to load the bases. Klikner’s ground ball allowed Payton to score. An error on the play brought Shaffer home with the winning run.