Pillow Academy took one step back in its quest to qualify for the postseason Tuesday with a 9-4 loss to Magnolia Heights.
The Chiefs scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to break open a tie game at PA's Louis Coleman Field to improve to 19-9 overall, 12-4 in the North AAA Division II standings. The Mustangs fall to 12-13, 8-8 and are now four games back of Magnolia Heights and two back of Washington School, which beat MRA 2-1 Tuesday to move to 10-6 in league play.
The top two teams advance to the playoffs, so the Mustangs have five games left to tie or pass Washington for second place. Pillow holds the tiebreaker against the Generals having won two of three against them.
"We are definitely behind the eight ball, but we've still got a chance," Mustang coach Tim Burton said. "And that's all we need is a chance because our kids will fight to the end."
That's exactly what the Mustangs did Tuesday night against a Magnolia Heights team that has now won seven straight and nine of its last 11.
The Chiefs led 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth, where PA took advantage of some wild pitching to tie the game.
Pillow loaded the bases with three straight walks. Landon Then Landon Taylor fouled off a 3-2 pitch to stay alive before drawing a walk to make it 4-2.
The Mustangs made it 4-3 on a groundout by Andrew Ables and got the game-tying run on a passed ball.
With runners at second and third with one out, the Mustangs had a chance to take the lead, but the Chiefs got an infield popout and a strikeout to get out of the inning without any further damage.
The Mustangs missed out on several other scoring opportunities earlier in the game. They had runners at second and third with no outs, trailing 2-1 in the third, and failed to push a run across.
Pillow pinch-runner Anthony Ola was thrown out at the plate, followed by a double play.
The Chiefs scored two runs in the top of the first off PA starter Jared Meeks, who wound up giving up six runs in 61/3 innings for the loss.
Pillow made it 2-1 in the second, when Bo Farmer led off with an infield hit, followed by an RBI double by Jim Tom Pilgreen.
Pillow will play a doubleheader at Magnolia Heights Friday, with the first game starting at 4 p.m.
