In a game beset by more than 90 minutes of delays for rules discussions during the contest, neither the Ripon A’s or the Spreckels Park Royals could manage a hit until the seventh inning. The three-plus hour marathon ended when Ripon’s Hudson Rushing blooped an eighth-inning infield single, scoring Jace McWhirter for the 2-1 walk-off quarterfinal win in the District 67 Minors Tournament of Champions at Ripon’s Thiemann Athletic Park.

While there may have been only four total hits, there were plenty of walks to go around (21) along with two hit batters and four errors. In all but the Royals 1-2-3 sixth inning, there were players left on base for each team every inning. The A’s had the bases loaded in both the fifth and seventh innings, but outstanding defensive plays on hard-hit grounders by Spreckels Park shortstop Joaquin Serrano to get the ball home for force outs in those frames kept Ripon off the board in the fifth and helped hold the A’s to one run in the seventh.

The Royals’ Christian Fuentes got the first hit of the game in the top of the seventh and scored from first when Navi Murillo’s single found its way to the outfield fence for a 1-0 lead. Rushing tied the game for Ripon in the bottom of the frame when he scored on an error off of the bat of Bronson Dietrich to tie the game at 1-1.

After the second long delay of the game for a rules discussion, the eighth inning began with the teams getting a runner on second base to start the inning. Spreckels Park loaded the bases with two outs when Rushing took to the mound and twirled a strikeout to end the threat.

The Royals got the first two A’s batters out in the bottom of the eighth when a walk and a hit batter loaded the bases, setting the stage for Rushing’s hit for the long-overdue walk-off win.

Spreckels Park plays either Mountain House or Patterson in a consolation game this afternoon at 5 and Thursday at 5 p.m. Ripon plays Northgate in the semifinal game.