By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

CHILLICOTHE — The Fairland Dragons may not laugh in the face of danger, but they had a good chuckle when facing elimination.

Down 4-3 in the top seventh inning, the Dragons scored 3 runs to beat the Zane Trace Pioneers 6-4 in the Division 3 district semifinals at Veterans Stadium on Tuesday.

The winning rally began with one out as Ben Southard walked and Keegan Smith and Brycen Hunt singled to load the bases,

Blaze Perry grounded out for another run and Wall had a 2-out, 2-run single to give Fairland the lead.

“I saw (Pioneers’ pitcher Josh Young) warming up in the bullpen before the game and he was throwing over the top so his curveball was going straight down,” said Wall.

“So ,I was looking for something early in the count, a fastball anywhere over the plate and just try and hit it and I did that today.”

Zane Trace (22-8) took a 2-0 in the second inning on singles by Young, Brooks Hodson and Ezra Rippeth along with an outfield error on Rippeth’s hit.

Fairland (14-14) came right back to take the lead with 3 runs in the top of the third.

Southard walked, Smith singled and both moved up when Hunt put down a sacrifice bunt.

Perry singled for a run, Alex Morgan hit a sacrifice fly and Wall smacked an RBI triple.

The Pioneers tied the game in the fourth when Coen Larson reached on an error and scored on a hit by Rece Allen.

Zane Trace took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Rippeth led off with a hit, Larson sacrificed him to second and Gavyn Allen stroked an RBI double.

The set the stage for the Dragons winning rally in the seventh.

Hunt went the first 6 innings to get the win with Wall picking up the save. Hunt gave up 7 hits, 4 runs with 2 earned, struck out 7 and walked 2.

Wall worked the seventh giving up 2 hits and striking out 2.

“I was having trouble early in the game, but I just stayed calm and just pitch my game and it worked out. I was happy with it,” said Hunt.

Young took the loss as he gave up 9 hits, 6 earned runs with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. He also went 3-4 at the plate while Rippeth was 2-4 with an RBI.

Fairland   003 000 3 = 6 9 2

Zane Trace 020 101 0 = 4 9 0

Brycen Hunt, Ethan Wall (7) and Cyrus Cummings. Josh Young and Blake Phillips. W-Hunt (IP-6.0, H-7, R-4, ER-2, K-7, BB-2). Save–Wall (IP-1.0, H-2, R-0, K-2, BB-0). L-xxx. Hitting-Fairland: Brycen Hunt 2-3, Ethan Wall 2-3 3B 3-RBI, Blaze Perry 1-4 2-RBI, Alex Morgan 1-3 RBI, Ben Southard 1-2, Keegan Smith 2-3; Zane Trace: Rece Allen 1-4, Landen Jarrell 1-3, Josh Young 3-4 2B, Brooks Hodson 1-3, Ezra Rippeth 2-4 RBI, Gavyn Allen 1-3 RBI.