The North Clay Cardinals staged their first comeback victory Saturday in their opening game of the Teutopolis Wooden Bat Tournament.

Even though it was a small rally – compared to what the Cardinals did later – their three-run sixth gave them a 4-2 victory over St. Anthony and a berth in the championship game.

North Clay trailed 2-1 when it came to bat in the home half of the sixth inning. And after a double play, the Cardinals had two outs and nobody on base when the winning surge began.

Collyn Ballard walked, stole second and scored the tying run on a base hit by Donnie Zimmerman. Holden Clifton followed with an RBI triple and then scored an insurance run on a passed ball.

The Bulldogs had thoughts of a rally in the top of the seventh. But after two walks, a triple play ended that threat.

St. Anthony trailed 1-0 after one inning, but tied the game in the third when Brock Jansen walked, stole second and eventually scored on a ground ball by Colton Fearday.

The Bulldogs took a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Max Koenig walked and scored when Angelo Mendella lined an RBI double.

Layton Dawkins got the win for North Clay and Clifton pitched the seventh to earn the save. The Bulldogs were held to just two hits. Eli Link took the loss for St. Anthony.

It was a different story in the third place game. The Bulldogs banged out 11 hits and had a pair of eight-run innings, en route to a 19-2 win over Dieterich.

Brock Fearday went 3-for-3, while Brody Niebrugge added two more. Brock Fearday, Eliot Frisbee, Brady Hatton and Brock Jansen each had a pair of RBI.

St. Anthony tallied eight runs in both the second and fourth innings to break the game open.

In the second, the Bulldogs combined four hits, two walks, two hit batters, an error and a walk to extend their lead to 9-2. Then in the fourth, they had four more hits, two walks, two hit batters and took advantage of three Dieterich errors.

Hatton was the winning pitcher for St. Anthony.

The Bulldogs are now 4-2 on the season. They will play at home Tuesday against Neoga and then travel to Dieterich on Friday.