Vipers survive late rally to knock off Chanute

Even if you beat a team convincingly in one game, there is no guarantee that you will do the same the next time around.
Girard/Arma head coach James Scholes knows all about that as the Vipers had to come from behind to knock off Chanute 14-13 in the Babe Ruth District 5 tournament Saturday at Cherokee.
In the first game of the tournament, the Vipers were able to defeat Chanute easily, but this time around was not so easy. They got to the Chanute game after beating Cherokee/Columbus 24-4 in five innings earlier in the day.
It took a Nicholas George double in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Vipers the win and advance them to the next round where they will face the same Coffeyville team that beat them on Friday.
“We had a huge lead at one time and our Achilles heel is that we will get a team down and not finish them off,” Scholes said. “Just like against Coffeyville, we had a big lead and let it get away.”
The Vipers held an 11-4 lead after four innings, but Chanute battled back to score eight runs in the top of the fifth to make the game interesting.
Chanute added two more runs in the sixth to take a 13-12 lead.
“We got complacent and did not do the little things and that let them back in,” Scholes said. “Chanute was smart on the bases and we did not make the plays when we needed to. You have to tip your hats to them because they were able to come back.”
In the seventh inning, the Vipers had two outs before Nathan George and Austin DeBusk drew walks.
That is when Nicholas George drilled a two-run double to center field for the winning hit.
In their first game, the Vipers put on a hitting display against Cherokee/Columbus.
Girard/Arma batted around twice and pounded out 24 runs on 16 hits in their first game of the day.
“We jumped on them early and kept the intensity up as long as we could to the next round of the tournament,” Scholes said.
The Vipers were able to rebound after Friday night’s loss to Coffeyville with their hit parade against Cherokee/Columbus.
“I am glad that they came out and responded the way that they did,” Scholes said. “There were a lot of nice line drives that were gappers that the other team did not even have a chance to get.”
Now, the Vipers will play Coffeyville at 1 p.m. today. With a win, Girard will take on Parsons in the first championship game. Girard/Arma will have to beat Parsons twice to claim the tourney title.

Babe Ruth baseball
District 5 tournament
Game one
Girard/Arma 24, Cherokee/Columbus 4, 5 innings
Cherokee/Columbus    130 00 —   4   3  6
Girard/Arma        881 7x — 24 16 2
Girard/Arma: Nathan George, Austin DeBusk (4), Trenton Stolte (5) and Nicholas George, Anthony Scholes (2), Cody Grilz (3), Taylor Fox (4). Cherokee/Columbus: Cody Stainhower, Brad Huffine (4) and Morgan Johnson. WP — Nathan George. LP — Cody Stainhower. 2B — Girard/Arma: Nicholas George, Cody Grilz, Austin DeBusk. 3B — Girard/Arma: Anthony Scholes.
Game two
Girard/Arma 14, Chanute 13
Chanute        130 082 0 — 13  2  3
Girard/Arma    500 610 2 — 14 12 6
Girard/Arma: Nathan George, Trenton Stolte (5), Nicholas George (5) and Nicholas George, Cody Grilz (4), Anthony Scholes (6). Chanute: Risner, Martin (6) and Fairchild. WP — Nicholas George. LP — Martin. 2B — Girard/Arma: Nathan George, Nicholas George, Cody McCloud. 3B — Girard/Arma: Nicholas George.