EDMESTON – Norwich was playing catch up with Oneonta the entire game. The purple-clad diamond men finally caught the Hurricanes in the bottom of the seventh.

Josh Haines slid into home safely after Cody Barnes’ sacrifice fly to center field to give Norwich a 6-5 win in the Otsenango Pony League championship game at Edmeston High School Tuesday night.

Norwich trailed 5-0 after two innings, and it appeared that its bid to repeat as league champion was in serious jeopardy. “We made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, and the pitching wasn’t on,” said Norwich coach Bill Haines. “A lot of our games we’ve been ahead, but when we were behind, the guys knew what to do to come from behind and win it.”

Oneonta did not suffer a division loss during the regular season, and after a four-run second inning was firmly in command. Josh Davi tagged Norwich’s winning pitcher, Barnes, with a lead-off double to start the uprising, one of five Oneonta hits during the inning. Josh Garufi hit a bloop RBI single to right, Mike Wolstenholme followed with a bunt single, and Wilson Wells rapped a sharp two-run single making it 4-0. Tyler Horne ended the inning with a run-scoring double.

Barnes never had a quiet inning on the mound, but also did not allow another run the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Norwich’s office finally got on track in the third.

Lead-off hitter Cameron Prime doubled, and he scored on Haines’ double to left field. Haines came in with Norwich’s second run on a passed ball. The next four innings, Norwich chipped away with single runs.

Robert Jeffrey reached in the fourth on an infield error, and he scored on Nick Mooney’s infield single. In the fifth, John Yacano walked, stole second, moved to third on Barnes’ groundout, and scored on a wild pitch. Jeremy Fitch, a mid-game substitution at second base, doubled to lead off the sixth. Two passed balls allowed Fitch to tie the game.

Norwich’s last-inning rally began when Oneonta was unable to handle Haines grounder to third. Haines stole second, and advanced to third on a groundout. Barnes, who was 0-for-3 in the game with two strikeouts, made solid contact on the first pitch ripping a line drive to center field. “I told Josh (before the last run) that anything in the air, he needed to tag up and go,” Haines said. “At that point in the game, we wanted to be aggressive. (Josh) was aggressive, and unfortunately for their catcher, the ball bounced away.”