Michael Bantle's diving catch of a line drive in the 3rd and Anthony Scalzo's walk-off double in the bottom of the 6th highlighted Mercer Island's come from behind 4-3 win over a strong team from Bainbridge Island, and helped MI reach the winner's bracket finals on Friday at 7:30pm.

Here's the final play:

Keegan Ogard started off strong on the mound for MI, striking out 5 Bainbridge batters in the first two innings, but Bainbridge loaded the bases to start the 3rd inning with two hits and a walk before Ogard struck out his 6th victim to get the first out of the 3rd inning.  Bainbridge took a 2-0 lead however on two more walks before Michael Bantle ended the threat with a diving stab of a hard line drive up the middle, saving at least two more runs.  Bainbridge went down 1-2-3 in the 4th on 2 more strikeouts by Ogard, and then Brandon Lawler halved their lead in the bottom of the 4th with a long solo home run over the right field fence.  MI got two more runners on in the bottom of the 4th when Max Hibbert walked and Keegan Ogard singled, but was unable to score them.  Ogard recorded his 9th strikeout of the game in the top of the 5th before hitting his 85-pitch limit and yielding the mound to Brandon Lawler, who closed out the inning with a blistering 3 pitch strikeout.  In the bottom of the 5th, MI erased the Bainbridge lead when Michael Bantle walked, stole 2nd and then scored on a fly ball hit to left by David Emanuels which Bainbridge's left fielder couldn't handle.  Another long fly ball by Brandon Lawler nearly cleared the fence to break the game open, but was caught at the warning track to end the inning. 

In the top of the 6th, Bainbridge flied out to RF, but then re-took the lead with a long home run to center field, before ending the inning with a ground out to SS and another strikeout, Lawler's 2nd and the 11th overall for MI.  In the bottom of the 6th, down 3-2, Max Hibbert led off the inning with a hard fought walk, and was quickly joined by Keegan Ogard with another walk, before Anthony Scalzo smacked them both home with a long double off the left center wall.

For the game, Brandon Lawler finished 2/3 with a home run; Josh Stenberg singled; Michael Bantle singled and scored, with David Emanuels earning the RBI; Keegan Ogard singled, walked and scored the game winning run; Max Hibbert walked twice and scored the tying run; and Anthony Scalzo was 1/2 with 2RBI on his double.  Keegan Ogard finished with 9 strikeouts and held Bainbridge to 2 runs on 3 hits in 4-2/3 innings.  Brandon Lawler struck out 2 and allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 1-1/3 innings, while earning the win in relief.

Mercer Island plays next on Friday night at 7:30pm in the winner's bracket finals against Pasco National (12-0 winners over West Seattle on Wednesday), with the winner advancing to Sunday's state championship game.

Link to Tournament bracket and live video webcast of state tournament games.