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Viking bats come alive in regular season finale

By RICKEY CLARDY ~ Sports Writer
Posted 5/3/23

UNIONVILLE — After trailing 5-1, the Community Viking bats heated up on a cool Tuesday night as the Vikings batted around in three straight innings en route to a 14-8 comeback win over the …

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Viking bats come alive in regular season finale

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UNIONVILLE — After trailing 5-1, the Community Viking bats heated up on a cool Tuesday night as the Vikings batted around in three straight innings en route to a 14-8 comeback win over the Huntsville Falcons.
Dallas Grooms and Maki Fleming combined for seven hits and nine RBIs as the Vikings ended their 2023 regular season on a positive note with the District 7-AA tournament starting later in the week.
The Falcons scored in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead before Community (10-22) scored its first run in the bottom of the third. 
A triple by Fleming and an RBI single by Grooms brought home the run as the Huntsville lead was cut to 2-1.
A three-run fourth upped the Falcon lead to 5-1 before the Vikings righted the ship as Community went ahead with five runs in the bottom of the inning. 
A run-scoring single by Fleming along with a two-run triple by Grooms and an RBI single by Corey Paterick were the big hits as the Vikings took a 6-5 lead.
Community kept the momentum with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. 
A run-scoring double by James Beech along with a 2-run triple by Fleming and an RBI single by Grooms increased the Viking lead to 10-5.
The Falcons cut the Viking advantage to 10-8 with three runs in the top of the sixth before Community added four insurance runs in the bottom of the inning.  Beech, Ryan Sharp, Fleming, and Mason Russell provided singles with Fleming and Grooms each driving in a run while Russell drove in two as the Vikings went through the order for the third straight inning and increased their lead to 14-8. 
The Falcons went three up, three down off Paterick in the top of the seventh as the Vikings closed out the win.
Fleming had four hits and four RBIs while Grooms connected on three hits with five RBIs to lead the Viking 15-hit attack.  Paterick, Blaine Paschal, and Beech each added two hits for the Vikings.
Drew Harris was the starting and winning pitcher for the Vikings.
Community will travel to Cascade for a 6 p.m. game Thursday night as the District 7-AA tournament begins. 
 
Huntsville 101 303 0 — 8    9  2      
Community 001 544 x — 14  15  1
 
Community: Maki Fleming 4-for-5, Dallas Grooms 3-for-4, James Beech 2-for-3, Blaine Paschal 2-for-4, Corey Paterick 2-for-5, Ryan Sharp 1-for-2, Mason Russell 1-for-4.
 
WP: Drew Harris