Day 4 of the Dixie Ozone District 3 Tournament Tuesday at Motor Mile Park saw six hours of baseball action, as both games needed extra innings to find a winner.

Game #8: Montgomery County 18, Radford 17 (7 Innings)

These two teams met on Saturday and played a 17-16 thriller won by Montgomery County.  How do you top a 17-16 game?  How about an 18-17 game that goes seven innings?  That's exactly what these two teams did on Tuesday night at the all-star tournament. 
 
Montgomery would score 8 in the top of the first as eleven batters would come up to the plate.  A Daniel Meredith 2RBI double would highlight the inning.  Radford would come right back in the bottom of the first an cut the lead in half by scoring four of their own.  Heth Grant and Desmar Conner would pick up RBI singles.  Montgomery would score 3 more in the top of the second, Mitchell Jennings and Zach Rutledge would both score on an 2RBI double from Trenton Harding.  Radford would pick up 4 more in the bottom of the second as Walker Helms, Matthew Rehak, Lucas Tuasto and Eli Straw would all come around to score.  After two is was 11-8 Montgomery.
 
Cole Epperly would score in the top of the third for Montgomery and Dontae Billings would score for Radford in the bottom of the third to make it 12-9.  After Montgomery would go scoreless in the top of the fourth, Radford would plate Landon Armentrout and Straw to tighten the game up at 12-11 after four.  Wesley Helms would score in the top of the fifth to give Montgomery one more.  Radford would get one in the bottom of the fifth as Michael Wheeler would score to make it 13-12 heading to the sixth.
 
In the top of the sixth, Josh Howard would draw a walk and score thanks to an RBI single from Tanner DeHart, Montgomery would leas 14-12 with three outs to go.  Armentrout and Straw would lead off with singles and then steal 3rd and 2nd.  Nick Ridpath and Grant would both get RBI groundouts to tie the game at 14-14 apiece.  This game was headed to a seventh inning.
 
In the top of the seventh, Montgomery would get to work as Helms, Epperly, Jennings and Harding would all score to give team Montgomery an 18-14 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.  Radford once again, as they have done the entire tournament, come right back.  Wes Parcell, Wheeler, and Tuasto would come around to score to cut the lead to one.  Armentrout and Straw would again reach base but this time, Montgomery would get that third out and leave them stranded giving Montgomery the 18-17 win.
 
These two teams put on another incredible performance against each other.  Radford was eliminated from the tournament but played incredible throughout.  Montgomery County's advances but would have to watch the Christiansburg-Blacksburg game to figure when they would play again.
 
Game #9: Christiansburg 7, Blacksburg 6 (8 Innings)

How do you top an 18-17 seven inning game?  How about two rivals that always seem to find each other in the tournament bracket needing eight innings to decide their outcome?  When Christiansburg and Blacksburg meet you're always in for a show.
 
Christiansburg was fired up for this one and would hold Blacksburg scoreless in the top of the first and then score four of their own in the bottom of the first.  Ashton King would lead off with a double followed by a single from Nick Meadows.  Charlie Jackson would bring those two in with and 2RBI single.  Meadows would be able to walk in after that thanks to a monstrous 2-run home run off the bat of Levi Bower.  The blast just missed denting the Motor Mile Park scoreboard as it left the park.  After one it was Christiansburg ahead 4-0.
 
Blacksburg would get on the board in the top of the second as Jack Madigan and Jake Verniel would score to cut Christiansburg lead in half at 4-2.  It would stay that way until the fourth as Madigan would single and score again to trim the lead to 4-3.  Blacksburg would complete the comeback in the top of the fifth as Ethan Goforth would lead off with a triple and score on a wild pitch to tie things.  Later in the inning, Madigan would walk and score on an RBI single from Adam Linkous.  It was a whole new ballgame as Blacksburg was now in the lead at 5-4.  Blacksburg would keep Christiansburg scoreless in the bottom of the fifth.  Blacksburg would fail to score in the top of the sixth but needed just three more outs to eliminate Christiansburg from the tournament.
 
In the bottom of the sixth with one out on the board, Meadows would single to give Christiansburg life.  Jackson would ground out but advance the runner.  Two outs and Meadows standing on second Bower would come to the plate.  Bower would double to centerfield to tie the score at 5.  Bower would steal third but was left stranded as the third out was made.  This game would need extra innings to be settled.
 
In the top of the seventh, Blacksburg would see Bryce Nicolau and Madigan reach base after being hit by pitches.  Linkous would score Nicholau on an RBI single but a slick double play by the Christiansburg defense would get them out of the inning only have only given up the one run. ^6-5 Blacksburg heading to the bottom of the seventh.
 
Blacksburg defense would retire the first two batter putting them just one out away.  Nick Carroll would get hit by a pitch to give Christiansburg life.  Alec Anderson would follow with a single and Ashton King would deliver a game saving double to score Carroll and tie the game.  Anderson and King would get stranded on base as Blacksburg would get out of the inning leaving the score tied at 6-6.  Onto the eighth inning.
 
In the eighth, Grayson Shelton would lead off with a single.  He was get caught stealing though and Christiansburg would get the other two outs to keep Blacksburg scoreless heading to the bottom of the eighth.  Blacksburg would record the first out then Bower would reach first after getting hit by the pitch.  He would steal second and third.  Logan Forester would come through with the game winning RBI single to end the game and keep Christiansburg's title hopes alive.  It was Blacksburg's first loss of the tournament.
 
Whew!  Six hours of baseball and we are left with three teams.  Montgomery County (3-1), Christiansburg (2-1) and Blacksburg (2-1).  By rule, Montgomery County, having played the most games, advances to Thursday night's championship game.  Blacksburg and Christiansburg will meet once again in an elimination game at 6:00PM on Wednesday night.
 
Wednesday night's game: Blacksburg (2-1) vs. Christiansburg (2-1) 6:00PM
Thursday night's game, championship game: Montgomery County (3-1) vs. Blacksburg/Christiansburg winner 6:00PM
 
A third game between Blacksburg and Christiansburg should provide another thriller, with Montgomery County waiting on the winner.  Both Wednesday and Thursday are free admission nights at Motor Mile Park, so come on down and see which team wins the 2010 championship!
 
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Photo: The Radford pitcher eyes the plate during Tuesday night's game against Montgomery County. (Photo by Jon Fleming)