The Cougars locked up their sixth regional championship in the last seven years with a 5-4 victory over the Woodlawn Cardinals on Saturday morning at Lions Field.

 

Tensions remained high throughout the game as the never-say-die Cardinals kept finding ways to get back into the game each time the Cougars would take the lead.

 

The Cougars jumped in front in their first at-bat when Dylan Sill plated the first run on a bases-loaded infield single and Shane Donoho followed with a walk to make it 2-0.

 

But the Cardinals responded by scoring a single run in the 2nd on a single, a wild pitch, and annother single.

 

They then tied it in the 3rd on a walk to leadoff hitter Dawson Verhines, and after he stole second and third, a groundout to first made it 2-2.

 

The scoring remained deadlocked until the 5th when Tyler Gillett led off the inning with a solo shot to left to make it 3-2. After Tanner Bushue was hit by a pitch, the Cardinals went to relief pitcher Kyle Boldt and Shane Donoho promptly greeted him with a two-run shot over the boards in left to extend the lead to 5-2.

 

But the Cardinals were'nt done yet. In the sixth they put two men on with a single and a hit batter and both runners moved up on a long fly ball to center. Now with two outs, a wild pitch resulted in both runners scoring as Cougar catcher Kyle Monical was knocked to the ground on a play at the plate and wasn't able to retrieve the ball in time before the second runner crossed the plate.

 

Clinging to a 5-4 lead heading into the bottom of the 7th, starting and winning pitcher Tanner Bushue recorded the first two outs on strikeouts, but he then walked Cardinal leadoff hitter Dawson Verhines for the third time to give them one last hope.

 

Verhines was still at first when Bushue proceeded to punchout the last hitter he faced to give the Cougars the victory.

 

Bushue upped his record to 7-2 with the win as he allowed all 4 runs on 4 hits, 4 walks, and 13 strikeouts.

 

The Cougars now advance to the Bridgeport Sectional next Thursday when they will square off with the North Clay Cardinals at 4:30 PM.