ADAMS, Mass. – Cooper Stentiford homered to right field to drive in two runs in the bottom of the seventh and give Lions Club an 9-8 win over Bedard Brothers in the first game of the Adams-Cheshire Little League championship series on Friday at Beaver Bard Field.

 

Stentiford, who went 3-for-4, chased home Camden Durant, who hit a leadoff double for Lions, which has made a habit of dramatic comebacks.

 

“This was our second game in a row we were down big that we came back,” Lions coach Matt Kirchner said. “Last week, we were down nine going into the bottom of the sixth. That was to clinch a series.

 

“This one, same thing. And we’re short staffed with 10 kids. They stay with it. As long as the stay up, we stay up.”

 

This win was arguably as dramatic.

 

The Lions were down, 6-0, midway through the third inning and still trailed, 7-5, going to the bottom of the sixth.

 

But they scored two two force extra innings and two more to erase a one-run lead and walk off with game one of the series.

 

Lions and Bedard Brothers will meet again on Sunday afternoon for Game 2. The rubber match, if needed, is scheduled for Tuesday.

 

Stentiford picked up the win on the mound on Friday with two innings in relief of Jackson Kirchner.

 

Kirchner struck out 12 and walked four but left with a 7-5 deficit after five innings.

 

Stentiford picked up four strikeouts – fanning the side around a walk in the sixth to keep it a two-run game and getting a strikeout looking to end the seventh.

 

Bedard Brothers starter Wyatt Cross also was effective before leaving in the third inning with six strikeouts. Jasiah Brown and Dennis Wells-Vidal took over from there; Wells-Vidal struck out five in 2-plus innings of work.

 

Bedard scored their first six runs without a hit, picking up three in the first and three more in the fourth.

 

In the bottom of the third, Colton Braman singled in a three-run rally for Lions, which also got an RBI groundout from Jack Pladdys to cut the deficit in half.

 

In the top of the fourth, Bedard Brothers got a leadoff single from Cross, who eventually scored on Wells-Vidal’s RBI single to push the margin back to four runs.

 

Lions answered in the bottom of the inning. Durant worked a leadoff walk and Stentiford doubled ahead of Kirchner’s two-run single to make it 7-5.

 

In the game-tying rally two innings later, Lions took advantage of a couple of walks and pitches to the backstop before Remy Pytko’s infield single brought home Carmine Zocchi with the tying run.

 

Wells-Vidal got an inning ending-strikeout to leave Pytko at first base and send the game to extra innings.

 

In the top of the seventh, Brown hit a one-out double, stole third and came home on a pitch to the backstop, but Stentiford was able to close the door and keep it a one-run game, setting the stage for his inside-the-park, walk-off homer moments later.

 

If Game 1 is any indication, the rest of the league championship series promises to be a battle.

 

“I think we were 3-1 against them in the regular season,” Matt Kirchner said. “I think they beat us the last time we played them. And they’re on a roll. They just knocked out the No. 1 seed, 2-0, so they’re hot, too.

 

“It’s all a matter of pitching. It’s a chess game now.”