The Fredonia right-hander came on in relief in the top of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out against Southwestern.

Although Fredonia had a 9-3 lead, things got tighter after the first two batters Luce faced reached on errors and four more runs crossed the plate.

But Luce didn’t flinch. Instead, he induced a groundball for the first out and struck out Southwestern’s No. 3 hitter looking for the second out. Two more singles, including Mason Winchester’s RBI hit, made it 9-8, but Fredonia got out of the inning when Rocco Bongiovanni made a diving stop and threw to first for the final out of the frame.

Luce made sure that lead held up with three more strikeouts in the top of the sixth inning as Fredonia won their third title in four years, 10-9, over Southwestern in the District 38 Little League 10-12 All-Star Tournament championship game at the Carroll Town Park.

Fredonia rushes the field after winning the tournament. OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown

Fredonia jumped on top 9-1 through three innings, including a five-run third.

Rylan Cambria hit an RBI triple and came around to score on an error to open the scoring in the first inning.

In the second, Bongiovanni singled and scored; Luce reached on an error and scored; No. 11 hitter Bruno Muscarella hit a two-run single and scored; and Tim Carle hit an RBI single.

Trailing 5-0 in the top of the third inning, Southwestern’s Beau Beaver singled, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Elijah Evans’ RBI single.

But Fredonia added on in its half of the frame.

With two outs, Greyson Whitfield and Brennan Hodkin hit back-to-back singles ahead of Bongiovanni’s RBI single. After a batter was hit by a pitch, Luce drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run. Theo Conroy capped the scoring with a two-run single to make it 9-1.

Hodkin threw the first four innings for Fredonia, allowing just the one run on two hits and two walks while striking out seven.

Southwestern then began its rally in the fifth. Kolton Bouckhuyt and Walker Eggleston walked before Hudson Rapp was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Beaver drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run and Collin Strong was hit by a pitch to force in another run, which led to Fredonia making a chance to Luce on the mound.

Evans greeted Luce with a hard-hit ball that got past first base for two runs and Carter Ray’s grounder got past second base for another two runs before Luce stopped the bleeding with just one more run crossing the plate.

Tucker Shoup doubled and scored on another Bongiovanni RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 10-8.

Beaver singled with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and scored on Strong’s RBI double down the left field line, but Luce ended the game with a strikeout to start Fredonia’s celebration.

Dylan Brink and Beaver each had a pair of hits for Southwestern.

Bongiovanni had three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored; Carle had two hits, including a double, and a run scored; and Conroy and Muscarella each drove in a pair of runs for Fredonia.