C.J. Retherford's dramatic solo home run in the ninth inning tied the game, and the Great Falls White Sox and Orem Owlz played late into the night before an energized crowd that largely stuck around at Centene.

Trailing 2-1, Retherford led off the ninth and the Centene crowd of 2,015 came to its feet in a collective wave of support. The former Arizona State utility player worked the count full against Orem ace closer Ryan Brasier, then fouled off a couple before connecting on a blast that sailed over the wall in left-centerfield about 385 feet.

"The support that this community gave us helped us immensely throughout the whole game tonight," said Cron.

It was perhaps the most dramatic moment of what has been a summer filled with highlights for the White Sox, and it was fitting that Retherford, the team MVP who set a Pioneer record with 30 doubles, was in the spotlight. It was the second home run of the postseason for Retherford, the 5-11, 190-pounder with the lightning quick bat.

But in the end, it wasn't quite enough.

"We had many opportunities to come through, so hats off to them," said Retherford. "But it was a great year."

Said Cron: "It breaks my heart that we weren't able to reward our fans with a championship. We played our tails off and gave it everything we got, but we came up a run short. If we could do this year-in and year-out it would be a helluva experience."

Both teams had chances in extra innings.

Orem's Jerry Gonzalez legged out an infield single to lead off the 12th off Sox reliever Ronnie Morales, the C.M. Russell High graduate and former Great Falls Stallions American Legion pitcher. It was the first hit since the fourth inning for the Owlz.

Morales quickly got out of the jam with a comebacker he turned into a double play, followed by a strikeout.

Morales was also tough in the clutch in the 13th. Hector Estrella led off with a single, but Morales fielded Romine's bunt and made a strong to throw to second for the forceout. The sidewinder then picked off Romine and got the dangerous Jay Brossman to pop to center.

Morales, who didn't pitch much this spring at Wichita State and was a 45th-round pick in the 2007 draft, was supposed to be a situational short reliever. But he pitched pretty effectively against both righthanded and lefthanded sticks for Great Falls manager Chris Cron and Friday night turned in a memorable performance as the Sox attempted to stave off elimination in the league playoffs.

Morales pitched four scoreless innings and allowed three hits. He struck out one, walked one and got seven groundball outs.