NAVARRE — The mood in the Crestview dugout around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday wasn’t exactly the sunniest you’d ever see.
Then again, why would it have been?
The Bulldogs were down by five to Tate, three outs away from their season being finished. Their home fans thought they were dead in the water.
Crestview-Tate baseball photos>>>
“We were in the dugout and we thought everything was done,” Jared Gaszak, the most unlikely of heroes, said.
The obituary was halfway written.
And then Gaszak popped a single, which sounded off a litany of hits that made an easy Tate win suddenly a possible Crestview victory.
Nate Gerard doubled and Alik Whited walked, Austin Polk was plunked for an RBI hit-by-pitch and B.A. Larkins walked in another.
A passed ball scored one more before Corey Armstrong was wisely walked, but then Colter Hancock singled in one and it was back to Gaszak, who swatted a two-RBI single and Crestview had turned a five-run deficit into a one-run lead, which it hung onto in a stunning 12-11, playoff-clinching win over Tate.
“I can’t say we were completely upbeat,” Coach Tim Gillis said. “We’ve been talking about it all year: Keep passing the baton, keep getting on base, keep putting ourselves in a position to win.
“We kept battling and scrapping and clawing, and next thing you know it’s closer. And then we get a hit, and it’s crazy how quick it happened. You just gotta keep believing and I’m so proud of these guys, and this game, the magnitude of this game, the season’s in the balance, and you just keep battling through — that’s why you coach.”
Heroes can be found in the strangest of places — like the dugout, nearly 140 minutes into a game, with a player who hadn’t swung a bat since warmups.
Gaszak had been swinging well lately, Gillis said. Dayne Justice was 0-for-3. So Gillis made the move to pinch hit for Justice with Gaszak to lead off the top of the seventh.
All he did was deliver the most clutch, iron-willed inning of his career.
“That was like the top of them,” Gaszak said. “Of all of them, yeah, that one was good.”
While Armstrong was uncharacteristically shelled, allowing eight runs in 4 1/3 innings, he held his wits about him at the plate, doubling in three consecutive at bats, scoring twice, and intimidating the Tate coaching staff enough to force an intentional walk in the seventh.
“That’s one of my better (hitting days),” Armstrong said. “I’m just staying back on the ball.”
Crestview’s reward for its wild comeback? A date in the district finals with the winner of Niceville and Navarre, teams replete with aces and gaudy records, on Thursday.
No matter. The Bulldogs have proven their gumption once.
What’s to stop them from doing it again?
“We’re just happy to be in the game,” Gillis said. “Hopefully we’re gonna hang in there close and get another one late.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview rallies to beat Tate (PHOTOS, VIDEO)