Print edition: 
It helps to own a deep roster in the National Baseball Congress World Series. Valley Center got right to utilizing it all in Wednesday's 4-3 win over St. Joseph (Mo.) in 10 innings.
The Diamond Dawgs rallied from a 3-1 deficit with two runs in the ninth. In the 10th, No. 9 hitter Kobi Temple drove in pinch-hitter Remington Johnson with a single for the go-ahead run. Valley Center is 2-0 and plays defending NBC champions Liberal on Saturday.
"Our bench guys won the game," Temple said. "Energy on the bench kept us in it. We could have easily gone flat and just died."
The bench guys did more than cheer and clap. Pinch-hitter Zach Stucky started the ninth with a single and scored on Tyler Coughenour's infield single with two outs. Temple walked and scored the tying run, driven in by Kale Gaden.
In the 10th, Johnson led off with a single. A bunt moved him to second and a wild pitch to third. Temple fell behind 0-2 before hitting a 1-2 pitch into center field.
"Two fastballs — I probably should have swung at one or the other," Temple said. "Then he came up and in with a good pitch and I just managed to turn and I met it the right way."
Temple can consider himself one of Valley Center's bench guys. He did not start Sunday's 6-2 win over Austin because coach Pat Hon wanted more power in the lineup.
"He was irritated and wanted to play," Hon said. "I'm not going to be able to take him out now."
The Diamond Dawgs needed the late-inning surge because it failed to bunch its hits earlier in the game. Valley Center stranded nine runners and lost three more on the base paths in the first eight innings. St. Joseph pitcher Adam Maddox frustrated the Diamond Dawgs, usually by inducing a groundball to end a threat.
Valley Center scored a run in the seventh to cut the lead to 3-1. But it stranded two runners in the eighth. Stucky's pinch hit to start the ninth got things going in the right direction and the Diamond Dawgs, to their great relief, didn't waste it.
"We were definitely frustrated," Johnson said. "We just kept leaving people on base."
Johnson, like everybody on the bench, was ready in the late innings.
"The only way to get ready is to think about yourself being in that situation," he said. "You have to visualize success, and that's what happened."
Valley Center's pitching staff also demonstrated some depth. Starter Lance Day struck out eight and recovered after giving up two first-inning runs to give Valley Center seven solid innings. Alex Silverthorne didn't give up a hit in the eighth. Dalton Banwart threw two hitless innings to earn the win.
St. Joseph broke to a 2-0 lead against Day. Jordan Guida's single drove in Nate Baumann, who walked to lead off the inning. Spiker Helms scored when Day balked him in from third base.
