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ROME, N.Y. -- In the kind of game that drives fans wild and makes coaches crazy, New Hartford finally got the best of rival Smith in Game 1 of the best-of-three District V American Legion Tournament Finals Friday night at DeLutis Field, coming back to win 9-8 in 10 overly-exciting innings.

Tied at seven after seven innings, Smith went up 8-7 in the top half on a two-out RBI single by Nate Mallinder. New Hartford threatened immediately in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back leadoff walks off relief pitcher Dustin Colgan, but Mallinder came in and put out the fire by retiring the next three batters.

But Mallinder would not find the same success in the ninth. Joe Betar led off with a double and went to third on a bad throw in from the outfield. After a groundout, Joe Carcone blooped a single just in front of a diving Kyle Richardson, scoring Betar to tie the game (Richardson was shaken up on the play and taken out). Smith then intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases and set up a force play at the plate or an inning-ending double play, but neither was needed as Mallinder got a strikeout and a fielder's choice at third when Mike Matt was called out for running outside the baseline to avoid a tag.

In the 10th, Smith went 1-2-3 against reliever Dan Nelson. Mallinder stayed in for the bottom of the inning, and got into trouble again when Mike Doyle ripped a ball off the third baseman's glove down left field line for a one-out double. After getting the next batter on a flyout, Erik Sheridan chopped a grounder to second that took a bad hop and shot over Mike Stevens' glove for a single, scoring Doyle to end the game.

It was the first victory for New Hartford against Smith in four tries this season, and marked the first time New Hartford scored on Smith this season after being shut out for a total of 30 innings in the three previous games plus the first inning of Friday's game.

New Hartford is now one win away from the state tournament, while Smith--which hadn't lost to a fellow Oneida County team all season before Friday's setback--needs to win the next two games to advance. Game 2 is Saturday at 2:00 and Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday at 1:00. Both games are also at DeLutis Field.

Smith started the scoring in the top of the second inning against Alex Giovannone with a three-run rally, and with co-ace Joe Melioris on the mound it was hard to think that wouldn't be enough, as Melioris accounted for 16 of those 30 scoreless innings. But he struggled to grip the ball and had trouble locating his pitches, possibly due to a blister issue, and New Hartford took advantage, breaking through with back-to-back RBI singles in the second and a two-run double in the third to take a 4-3 lead.

But the lead would disappear in the fourth, as Smith scored on one of six New Hartford errors in the game to tie it and went ahead 5-4 on a sacrifice fly. New Hartford came right back, though, scoring on a bad throw home on a double-steal to tie it back up at 5-5.

Unfazed by the misplay, Smith went ahead again in the fifth on an RBI single, then made it 7-5 in the sixth on an RBI groundout. But New Hartford scratched its way back, scoring on a two-out, bases-loaded walk in the sixth and plating a run on one of four Smith errors in the game in the seventh to knot it back up at 7-7.

Melioris battled to last seven innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits, seven walks and two hit batters and striking out eight. Giovannone survived to pitch nine innings, giving up eight runs (five earned) on 11 hits, three walks and one hit batter and striking out three.