By Todd Hummel
 For The Daily Item
NORTHUMBERLAND â€" So what could the Danville and Sunbury/Northumberland Junior American Legion teams do for an encore Wednesday night under the lights at Pineknotter Park?
In the first round of the playoffs, both teams pulled off upsets of higher seeded teams. In the winners' bracket final, it took eight innings of hard-fought baseball with great pitching performances on both sides before Zac Deibler scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth on a wild pitch to give Sunbury/Northumberland a 2-1 victory.
"(The) nerves were really bad (as the game went on)," Deibler said.
Sunbury/Norry (11-3) now awaits the survivor of Danville, Beech Creek and Jersey Shore for the right to advance to regionals. Sunbury/Norry must be beaten twice to lose the trip to regionals.
The teams were tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Deibler led off the inning with a double that one-hopped over the right-field fence. Deibler had three hits in the game, but the lone time he made an out came when he struck out with the bases loaded against Danville reliever Mitch Renz in the fifth and Sunbury/Norry clinging to 1-0 lead. Renz also allowed the double in the eighth.
"That at-bat really helped me with what (Renz) was throwing," Deibler said. "I knew what to expect."
Colin Patton then reached on an error and David Swank singled to load the bases with no outs. Cody Cooper relieved Renz and his first pitch went to the backstop, allowing Deibler to score the winning run.
"It was a little frustrating (when we couldn't come up with the big hits)," Sunbury/Norry coach Derek Fisher said. "But these kids love the game and they kept fighting until they won the game."
Danville's Zach Russell and Sunbury/Norry's Bronze Luden hooked up in a pitcher's duel with neither team scoring until Sunbury/Norry took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Deibler hit a ground-rule double to start the inning. He went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.
Luden ran into trouble in the fifth when Cody Herman walked and Robbie Riley reached on an error with no outs. That brought lefty Darren Adams into the game. After a walk to Cooper to load the bases with no outs, Adams struck out the side to end the Danville threat.
"We knew Darren had three innings left, so if things got dicey in the later innings, we were going to him," Fisher said. "He's been our ace all year and he's thrown shutouts the last two times out (in the regular season finale against Danville and the first playoff game against Jersey Shore)."
Danville (10-6) tied the game in the top of the seventh though off Adams. Cody Herman beat out an infield single and Robbie Riley doubled to the center field fence to tie the game with no outs in the seventh, but Adams struck out next three hitters to end the threat. Adams finished his three innings in relief with nine strikeouts and one walk.
Luden came back on in the eighth and, after retiring the first two batters, the next two Danville hitters reached on a walk and an error to put runners on second and third. Luden then got Herman to ground out to end the threat. Luden worked five total innings for the victory, not allowing a run. He struck out two and walked three, while allowing just four singles.
"Bronze hasn't pitched much this season, but he did a great job," Fisher said.