LITTLE LEAGUE: ROBERTS' WALK-OFF HOME RUN PUSHES TROY PAST ATHENS (2023-07-11)

Northern Tier Sports Report
ATHENS — It’s well after the Fourth of July but the Troy Majors All-star baseball team is still setting off fireworks, using an Oakley Roberts 2-out, 2-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to beat Athens, 6-4, in their second straight walk-off win during District 15 action Tuesday.

Hunter Watson led off the sixth by getting hit by a pitch. Then, two batters later, Roberts took the 0-2 pitch over the centerfield wall for the win.

Athens opened the game with a 2-run first, while Troy came back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Athens tied it up in the second, and it stayed that way as the defenses settled in, until the top of the fifth, when Athens pushed one across to make it 4-3.

Troy would equal them in the bottom half of the inning. Athens would get a runner in scoring position in the top of the sixth, but couldn’t push him across, setting up Roberts’ heroics in the final inning.

Brody Ayres (1-for-3) had a double with a run scored, as Blaine Fish (1-for-3), Roberts (1-for-3), Zack Blasz (1-for-2), Blake Putnam (1-for-2), and Jackson Knerr (1-for-2) also had hits.

Watson scored twice, with Ayres, Fish, Roberts, and Blasz scoring the other runs.

Watson got the start, going 5 2/3-innings with six strikeouts. Fish came on to get the last out in the top of the sixth, and gets the win.

Troy will head back to Athens on Thursday for a winner-take-all title game to see who gets the District 15 title. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.

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PHOTO CAPTION: Troy’s Oakley Roberts makes contact on his home run…PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING & MATT PATTON