MANTEO – A walk off RBI single in the bottom of the tenth inning propelled Bear Grass to a 6-5 win over Ahoskie, thus avoiding a huge first round upset in the Area-One junior American Legion playoffs.

Bear Grass is the top seed in the week-long event being played here at Manteo High School’s Coy Tillet Field; Ahoskie came in as the eighth seed.

“We played well,” said Post 102 coach Dave Ellis. “It was a tough loss, but we fought the number-one team to the end.”

Ahoskie got on the scoreboard first with one run in the top of the first inning. Trevor Lee singled and advanced to second base on a fielder’s choice. Grant Little then doubled into the gap, scoring Lee, and Post 102 had a 1-0 lead after one complete inning when Bear Grass didn’t answer in their half.

Ahoskie came back and put up another run in the top of the second when Bradley Edwards doubled and scored on an Edward Bradley RBI single for a 2-0 bulge.

Bear Grass cut that margin in half when they scored their first run in the bottom of the second to trail it, 2-1.

Ahoskie added still another run in the top of the third when Jordan Robinson walked, advanced to second on a balk call on Bear Grass, and scored on Evan Lassiter’s RBI double. Ahoskie fans were on their feet as Post 102 took a 3-1 lead.

Bear Grass would knot things in the bottom of the third, tying the contest at 3-3 after three complete innings of baseball.

Bear Grass took their first lead in the bottom of the fourth inning for a 4-3 advantage after four.

Ahoskie clawed back to tie the score a second time in the top of the fifth. Robinson walked, went to second on an error, and scored on Lassiter’s second RBI of the game.

The 4-4 tie didn’t last long as Bear Grass pushed a run across in the bottom of the fifth to lead it 5-4 after five.

Ahoskie scored the game’s third equalizer in the top of the sixth when Edwards doubled and went to third on a Hunter Mitchell groundout. Frankie Reppy had the inning’s second groundout, but it was good enough to score Edwards and knot things up once again at 5-5 after six.

For the next three-and-a-half innings, it was a chess-match pitcher’s duel as neither team could muster a run.

Then, in the bottom of the tenth, Bear Grass got a runner into scoring position and won it going away with a walk-off single, crushing Post 102’s hopes for a first-round playoff upset.

Trent Munford, Mitchell, and Little pitched for Ahoskie, with Little saddled with the hard-luck loss.

Post 102 scattered nine hits across ten innings. Lassiter led Ahoskie with three hits while Edwards and Little had two hits apiece and Bradley and Lee each had one.

Ahoskie’s mark on the season fell to 4-19 overall. Post 102 played Albemarle to keep their season alive in a loser’s bracket second-round game Wednesday that was not complete by press-time.