Irish Force A Game Two, But Fall To Wayne In Championship

The O'Neill Pinnacle Bank Irish Juniors finished the season just one win away from a state tournament berth, losing the Class B Area 5 tournament championship to Wayne 3-2.

After topping Wayne 8-3 in game one of the championship to force a second game, O'Neill came in confident but were unable to capitalize on that. 

Wayne jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first. They added one more run in the fourth before O'Neill scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game up. 

The teams remained tied going into the seventh until Wayne was able to bring one run around before shutting down the Irish in the bottom of the frame to earn their second straight state tournament trip.

Esteban DeLeo is credited with the loss for the Irish, despite Wayne only scoring three runs on seven hits.