The Mineral Point Varsity Pointers secured a dramatic 9-8 walk-off victory over the Platteville Hilmen on Thursday night, overcoming early errors and multiple deficits to complete the comeback.
The Pointers stumbled out of the gate in the first inning, committing two errors that allowed Platteville to capitalize early. Carson Opgenorth made them pay with a three-run home run, giving the Hillmen a quick 3-0 advantage.
Both teams struggled to generate offense over the next two innings, but Mineral Point broke through in the third when Hudson Schroeder delivered an RBI single to cut into the deficit.
The Pointers seized momentum in the fourth inning. Taking advantage of two walks and an error, they loaded the bases for Evan Kearns, who came through with a clutch tworun single to tie the game at 3-3. Two consecutive walks later in the inning brought home another run, giving Mineral Point its first lead of the night at 4-3.
Platteville responded in the fifth inning, stringing together timely hits.
Tyler Sasse drove in a run with an RBI single, followed by another runscoring hit. A bases-loaded walk capped the inning, pushing the Hillmen back in front, 7-4.
The Pointers answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning when Connor Rolli scored on a balk, narrowing the gap to 7-5. However, Opgenorth struck again, blasting his second home run of the game to extend Platteville’s lead to 8-5.
Mineral Point refused to back down. In the sixth inning, Elliot Kite sparked the rally with a two-run single, and Rolli followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 8-8.
After holding Platteville scoreless in the top of the seventh, the Pointers set the stage for a walk-off finish. Kearns reached base with a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice groundout by Ripp. With one out, Schroeder delivered again, lining a single that brought Kearns home for the game-winning run.
The victory marked Mineral Point’s first walk-off win of the season and capped a resilient performance highlighted by timely hitting and late-game execution.