The Humboldt Eagles 17Us got their annual summer tournament off to an exciting start on Wednesday night, while quickly putting a disappointing weekend behind them.

The local American Legion club matched up against the Colts at Belotti Field and won 9-8 on a walk-off in nine innings.

The Eagles had to rally late to force the extra innings, overcoming an 8-3 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the seventh.

After both teams were held scoreless in the eighth, the Eagles scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

With two outs, Scotty Brogan doubled for the tournament hosts, before teammate Kyle Giacone doubled off the outfield fence to bring home the winning run.

“We had some last inning magic,” Eagles manager TJ Brogan said. “It was a good way to start our tournament.”

Giacone’s game-winning hit was “the furtherest I’ve seen him hit the ball,” the coach added.

It was a good response from a team that went 1-4 in tournament play at Reno last weekend and trailed 6-0 early in Wednesday’s game.

“It was nice to see those boys wake up in the seventh,” TJ Brogan said. “All of a sudden everybody started hitting.”

The manager used several different pitchers, most of whom threw one inning each, with Ty Wade getting the win in relief.

Wade pitched two scoreless innings and gave up no hits.

Lucas Ask had a big game at the plate in the win, finishing 3-for-5 with a double, while the hard-hitting Giacone was 3-for-5 with his double and three RBIs.

Scotty Brogan also made some noise at the plate and finished 2-for-3 with the late double, a walk, an RBI and four runs, while Wyatt Zeller was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Brice Neuman was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

The Eagles were originally scheduled to open tournament play on Thursday, but the schedule was changed at the last minute and they kicked off on Wednesday night instead.

The Eagles will continue tournament play on Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.. when they play the Colts D at the Redwood Fields in Cutten.

With Wednesday’s win, the Eagles improved to 10-8 on the season.

They competed well at the Reno Tournament but lost four of their five games.

Among the weekend highlights, Brayden Bermers hit a grand slam, while Ask and Scotty Brogan each also had home runs.

“It was a dog fight every game,” TJ Brogan said. “They never gave up. It was good to see them compete against some really good teams.”