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Weaver's Walk-Off Single Propels Pioneers to Comeback Win

Weaver's Walk-Off Single Propels Pioneers to Comeback Win
Posted: May 03, 2022

Game 1 - Pioneers 6... Lake Region State 5

The MCC Pioneers staged a comeback for the ages finished off with a walk-off single by DP Mars Weaver (Rexburg, ID) as the Pioneer rallied from a 5-0 1st inning deficit to defeat Lake Region State 6-5 in game #2 of the West Sub-Region XIII Tournament Tuesday afternoon in Glendive. 

Lake Region got off to a hot start in the 1st inning aided by a grand slam home run by Breelyn Cloet off of Pioneer starter Hazel Eaton (Belgrade, MT). The Pioneers committed 3 errors in the 1st inning and Eaton (0 IP, 5 R, 2 H) failed to record an out before being replaced by Alex Carr (Idaho Falls, ID). Carr (7 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 R) came up big for the Pioneers finishing the game and giving the Pioneers the opportunity to rally. 

The Royals held the 5-0 lead until the 4th inning when MCC finally got on the board. 3B Megan Toplovich (Great Falls, MT) slugged a home run to centerfield to cut the Royals lead to 5-1. Mars Weaver then reached second base after a Royals error and scored on an RBI single by 1B Lilinoe Nihi (Moanalua, HI) to make it 5-2 after 4 innings. 

In the bottom of the 6th, 2B Abby Johnson (Hamilton, MT) singled and advanced to 3rd after a double by Weaver. Nihi added her 2nd RBI of the game on a single to center to make the score 5-3. The Pioneers then came up clutch in the 7th as C HaiLeigh Davis (Shepherd, MT) led off with a single. Pinch-hitter Megan Johnson (Preston, ID) then singled to put runners on 1st and 2nd. LF Liz Ybarra (Belgrade, MT) grounded out to 3rd base but Davis and Johnson advanced to 3rd and 2nd base. CF Skylar Higgs (Livingston, MT) then doubled to left scoring Davis to make it 5-4. With runners on 2nd and 3rd Abby Johnson struck out and Megan Toplovich hit a game tying single that scored Johnson and pushed Higgs to 3rd. Mars Weaver then turned in to the hero with a single to right field scoring Higgs and pushing the Pioneers to the undefeated semi-final. 

After the slow start, the Pioneers picked up 12 hits in game. Megan Toplovich finished 3-4 (HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R) to lead the team in hits. Mars Weaver had a 2-4 (2B, RBI, R) effort as did HaiLeigh Davis that included a run scored. Lili Nihi finished 2-3 (2 RBI), while Megan Johnson, Abby Johnson, and Skyler Higgs (RBI) had the other hits for MCC. 

The Pioneers will face the winner of the Dawson/Williston State game tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. The winner of that game will move to the championship and advance to the Region XIII Playoffs. The loser will have to play at 2:00 PM for the chance to get to the championship and advance to the Region XIII Playoffs.