By Junious Smith III

AYDEN — Ayden-Grifton had Senior Night in hand until a furious Greene Central rally put everything in doubt.

Austin Jones was able to come in to get the final out as the Chargers finished the regular season with a 12-11 victory over the Rams. Ayden-Grifton (16-8, 8-4 Eastern Carolina Conference) took a 12-5 advantage into the seventh and was able to hold on for the victory.

“I’m just glad we were able to finish that one off,” Jones said. “It got a little troublesome at the end, but we were able to work through it in order to get the win.”

After Greene Central (10-10, 5-7) scored the game’s first run in the top of the fourth, Ayden-Grifton exploded for five in the bottom of the frame. The Rams closed the gap to one in the third on a Perry Tingen two runs single and A.J. Dupree sacrifice fly, but an RBI base knock from Josh Harris and a wild pitch in the bottom of the frame had the Chargers ahead 7-4. Greene Central scored one in the top of the fourth, but Ayden-Grifton answered again in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double from Jackson Upchurch, run-scoring single from Tanner Cannon and a bases-loaded walk from Blake McLawhorn.

The Chargers manufactured runs in the fifth and sixth to go up 12-5, and despite Dupree’s RBI single, the Rams would find themselves down to their last out trailing by six.

From there, Alex Tyson hit an RBI single, followed by Dylan Benton’s ground rule double to score another run. A wild pitch, followed by Debo Pigford’s RBI double made the score 12-10 and following Trey Fields’ RBI double and Beau Hedgepeth’s base hit, the tying run was 90 feet away and the go-ahead run was on first.

Instead, Jones struck Tingen out looking to preserve the win and ensure the seniors — Harris, Jones, McLawhorn, Conner Allen, Jordan Atkinson, Ben Bynum, Garrick Johnson, Aaron Pasour and Mason Ross — would finish their last home game on top.

“We set small goals for the season, to have a better regular season record than last year, better conference record and make the playoffs,” Chargers coach Corey Skinner said. “We’ve accomplished those goals and now we have an opportunity to make an impact in the playoffs.”

Greene Central should be in the postseason as well and Coach Scott Jones said the seventh inning was indicative of the team’s heart all year.

“We’ve gone through a lot of adversity this year,” Jones said. “We’ve had guys injured, concussions, one in the hospital now. Perry Tingen, who pitched for us tonight, his grandmother died yesterday, so that shows the character these guys have to still play and help us.”

In softball, the Chargers surpassed their great 2017 campaign after defeating the Rams 12-8. Ayden-Grifton (14-7, 8-4 ECC) finished third in the conference and surpassed the 13 victories from last season, the team’s most in school history.

“It all goes back to improving our game from the beginning of the year,” Chargers coach Casey Matthis said. “Last year we were fourth in the conference, this year we were third and maybe we’ll be second next year. We can only control our own situation and the girls did a great job of it today.”

The teams combined for nine extra-base hits and four Chargers — Taylor Bowen, Boo Hardee, Abby Langemann and Kim Gurkins — had multiple RBIs. Ayden-Grifton jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings before Greene Central (11-7, 7-5) battled back to make it 5-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth. Ayden-Grifton scored three in the frame and while Greene Central scored two in the top of the fifth, in the bottom half, 2-run singles from Gurkins and Bowen put the Chargers up 12-5.

“I was just seeing the ball well and trying to get the ball in play,” Bowen said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game because of the last time we played Greene Central and they weren’t giving this game away.”

The Rams won the first meeting between the teams 7-6 on April 2 on Katelin Uzzell’s walkoff single after the Chargers rallied to tie the game with three runs in the seventh. Greene Central struck in the sixth on Uzzell’s leadoff triple, followed by an RBI single from Amber Speight and Abby Burress run-scoring double. A fielder’s choice on a Starr Benton grounder closed the gap to four, but Greene Central would get no further and Gurkins retired the side in the seventh.

Hardee said this season has been a great one and it started with chemistry.

“We had to work as a team first and then we gained more confidence at the plate,” Hardee said. “We’ve got some freshmen and sophomores who have really fit in well and fielded their positions, and now we’re looking to win in the playoffs.”

Greene Central coach Kim Jones said the team will look to shake this loss off heading toward the postseason.

“We’ll come back ready to work in practice,” Jones said. “Ayden-Grifton is a much improved team and they played hard in the last game as well. We’re going to take this as a lesson and hopefully we can go on a nice run.”