Perfect season

By Staff
Royals cap undefeated season with 15-14 win over Pirates in Farm League finals
Kim West
The undefeated Royals overcame a six-run comeback by the Pirates to win the Russellville Farm League tournament title 15-14 in extra innings Thursday night at the Lee Complex.
The Royals (16-0), the regular season champions, completed a perfect season when leadoff hitter Hayden Murray slid home on a first-pitch RBI single to center field by Lucas McNutt in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Pirates (10-7) took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first with hits by Dylan Hatton, Will Rushing, Ondre Almstead and Daniel Pace. In the bottom of the inning, Payton Scott, John David Aycock and Cameron Vandiver each drove in a run and Connor Coker hit a two-run double to left field to give the Royals a 5-3 lead.
After a scoreless inning by the Pirates, the Royals went ahead 6-3 in bottom of the second inning when Murray hit a two-out single to bring home Devin Buckhalter.
The Pirates responded with a five-run third inning on runs by Hatton, Rushing, Almstead, Austin Balding and Pace to take an 8-6 lead. The Royals tied the game at 8-8 when Scott doubled and scored on two throwing errors and Vandiver hit an RBI single to score Aycock.
The Royals held the Pirates scoreless in the top of the fourth and poured in six runs in the bottom of the inning to lead 14-8. But the Pirates battled back and answered with six runs of their own in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 14-14.
After failing to score in the bottom of the fifth, the Royals prevented the Pirates from scoring in the top of the sixth and ended the game on McNutt's RBI single.
Rushing and Almstead each went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs for the Pirates. Murray went 4-for-4 with three runs, while Scott went 2-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run, three runs and three RBIs for the Royals.