Washington kicked off its season in a dramatic, albeit sloppy, way on Monday evening. The Pam Pack scooted by Conley, 9-8, in an eight-inning affair to start off the summer with a win.

Drew Ferguson took the mound in the top of the eighth and fanned two Conley batters to keep the game tied at eight apiece. In the bottom of the stanza, Nick Everette hustled to reach base on an infield hit and then moved to second on a passed ball.

With the walk-off run in scoring position, Ferguson popped up into a gap in shallow right field to push across Everette and earn the win.

“We won. They fought back and didn’t give up, so that’s something we can build on,” coach Kevin Leggett said. “Everything else, hopefully I can put it down as rust. It should have been an 8-0 game because I think we gave them all their runs on walks and errors.”

The Pam Pack pitching wasn’t too strong out of the gate, though. Tyler Harrell started the game and allowed Conley to load the bases with no outs. The Vikings plated a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead early on, but the Pam Pack responded with two of its own in the bottom of the frame.

After Cody Godley doubled down the left-field line, Logan Little knocked a two-out RBI single up the middle. Tripp Barfield then pushed him across with a line drive to right field.

The game progressed quietly until Conley struck four times in the top of the fourth. Harrell hit a batter to put two on with one out, ending his night on the mound. Chris Sulc took over and walked in two runs. Conley scored two more on an error before Sulc got a strikeout to get out of the inning.

Once again, the Pam Pack was able to respond quickly. The boys loaded the bases with no outs and were able to score three runs, making it a one-run game heading into the fifth.

Little, who led off with a single up the middle, scored on a fielder’s choice off of Sulc’s bat, also chasing Conley’s pitcher in the process. With two outs, Ferguson had his first big at bat of the evening when he plated Sulc and Barfield with a shot to right field.

“Some of the junior varsity guys, like Drew, came in and had a good night,” Leggett said, explaining the valuable experience of summer baseball. “He had two big hits tonight and ended it on the mound good for us. … They’ll all get their chance to show me why they should be in the game next year.”

Sulc fanned two in the fifth as Washington set down Conley in order in the top of the fifth. It set the boys up to pull ahead in the bottom half of the inning. Godley took the first pitch for a base hit. He scored when Fredrick Holscher also connected on the first pitch, drilling a triple to the fence in centerfield.

In an odd sequence, Barfield reached on a dropped third strike. Conley’s catcher overthrew his first baseman, allowing Holscher to score the go-ahead run.

Conley quickly reclaimed the lead with two runs in the top of the sixth. Washington drew even in the bottom of the frame when Little’s sacrifice fly to second base plated Jerry Rivera.

“Jerry was at third and he hadn’t got too much running experience on the bases this season,” Leggett said of the odd sac-fly run. “He did what he needed to do and tagged up. I guess it wasn’t a typical sac fly, but it got the job done.”

Both sides went quietly until Ferguson batted in the walk-off run in the eighth.