Teammates and coaches congratulate Dakota Fowler, 4, on pulling out the win for Central against Red Bank on Tuesday.Brett Hardy pitched a no-hitter for four innings, but all he could do in the seventh was wipe the sweat from his brow as Red Bank made a stiff comeback push in the District 6-AA baseball game.
Hardy left the mound in the seventh with a two-hitter and his Central Purple Pounders holding a 5-0 lead.
Red Bank scored four in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying run in scoring position when reliever Dakota Fowler, the Pounders’ offensive leader, finally got the last out to nail down a 5-4 victory.
“We were fortunate. They just ran out of outs,” Central coach Glen Carter said. “They put up a fight. We just withstood the punches.”
He would have been sorely disappointed to have wasted the effort by Hardy, who wound up with 11 strikeouts.