Through playoff heartbreaks, tough exits, long practices, offseason workouts and years of growing up together on the same baseball fields, they believed this moment would eventually come.

Jack Adams drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to force home the winning run as the No. 2-seeded Eagles survived a wild offensive showdown with No. 5 Perquimans County, 20-19, in Game 1 of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2A Eastern Regional Finals.

Built on a field raised by the community 40 years ago, Rosewood baseball’s latest playoff run is the continuation of a small-town dynasty powered by generations of players, coaches and families who turned the Eagles into one of eastern North Carolina’s most consistent programs.

Rosewood snapped Midway’s 17-game win streak with a gritty 3-2 road victory behind a complete-game effort from McCandless St. John.

Check out the latest Softball and Baseball RPI rankings from our NNS teams.