Photo by Jake McNeill Lamberton outfielder Neil Eichten rounds third base during the Long Sox’s game against Fairfax at the Milroy Irish Yard on July 20.

SPRINGFIELD — Neil Eichten came up clutch in the No. 7 Lamberton Longsox’s 7-6 win over No. 8 Searles in a Region 2C elimination bracket Sunday night, stealing home in the 12th inning to secure a walk-off win.

“By the time I saw him running home, I knew he was going to be safe,” Lamberton manager Derrick Jenniges said. “There were a lot of pieces in there that worked out the right way. Sometimes I guess you’ve got to take a chance and sometimes it pays off.”

Eichten reached base on a walk and advanced to second on a ground out. From there, Seth Guetter reached on an error to put runners on the corners and Will Carlson was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs.

Jake Wahl came up to bat with the game on the line but never got to swing. As a left-handed batter, he could see Eichten coming the whole way and knew not to swing, so the game was over as soon as Eichten caught the Searles pitcher off guard, Jenniges said.

“One of the things that I think is the most important about this is that we have a good handful of younger players in our dugout. You know, kids who are just kind of experiencing amateur baseball for the first time, so I think that the way the game ended is something exciting for them to kind of put in their memory bank and hopefully something that keeps them excited about coming back for a long time,” Jenniges said.

The departure of much of last year’s team left many doubting how the Long Sox would fare this season. Yet, a hot month of July has Lamberton still dancing. Jenniges said that adjustments in the pitching staff and some lineup rotations have helped the team continue to find ways to win. Lamberton trailed in their matchup against No. 10 Gibbon 8-2 before eventually winning 10-9 in the 12th inning. While the deficit wasn’t as large this time around, the Long Sox still found themselves trailing 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning.

Once again, Eichten got things going with a double to start the inning. After advancing to third on a ground out, Luke Willhite hit a single to drive in Eichten and tie up the game.

“We’ve found ways to battle back and stay in the game and have a chance to win,” Jenniges said. “Earlier in the year, those games didn’t go out way. We’ve found enough ways to pitch, get outs, and make defensive plays. A different guy every day can get a hit or get on base or get a sac bunt to help us be successful down the stretch.”

Searles scored three first-inning runs but Lamberton responded quickly with two of their own. Willhite reached on a single, scored on Guetter’s RBI double, and then Carlson singled to drive in Guetter and cut the Grizzlies’ lead to 3-2.

Searles scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-2 lead, but once again, Lamberton didn’t let the deficit go unchallenged. Derrick Jenniges walked to start the inning and Isaac Jenniges singled to put two runners on. From there, Eichten hit an RBI single to score Derrick.

Willhite then singled to load the bases and, with two outs, Guetter singled to score Isaac and Eichten.

Willhite came into the game in the sixth inning and went on to pitch 3 2/3 innings of relief for the Long Sox. He allowed some inherited runners to score but allowed just one earned run over 3 2/3 innings of relief. He struck out three batters and held the Grizzlies to three hits.

“He came in kind of a tough spot, I think it was 3-2 when he came in, inherited a couple of runners and they scored some of them, but after that, he settled in. Defense made a couple of plays, he was able to get ahead in the count and he did a great job pitching for us,” Derrick Jenniges said.

“He threw four innings on Wednesday night, so to go for four on Wednesday and get four more Sunday was a big thing for the whole group because trying to fit three games in the playoffs in that many days is not the easiest thing to do.”

Eichten picked up the win on the mound. He threw three scoreless innings, allowing just two base runners and striking out a pair of batters.

“Three innings, I think that’s probably the most that Neil’s pitched in a game all year,” Derrick Jenniges said. “He’s very effective. He got ahead in the counts and got the leadoff guy out. That was kind of a problem for us against Stark and Gibbon. We couldn’t get the leadoff guy out and that gave teams the opportunity to maybe score from third on a sac fly.”

The Long Sox were knocked down to the elimination bracket by an 8-1 loss to No. 2 Stark on Saturday but the bounce-back win on Sunday keeps the team’s hopes alive. They’ll look to keep advancing in the playoffs when they face off against No. 6 Leavenworth in Springfield on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Leavenworth will be given home-field advantage in the game.