The heart of a baseball team’s batting order is the three, four and five hitters. If the opponent can stymie these batters, then it stands a good chance of winning the game.

Rockingham’s 11-12-year-old All-Star team was unable to contain Trevor Powell and Gavin Payne as Pittsylvania County rolled to a 15-8 victory in a winner’s bracket contest of the Bronco Regional Thursday afternoon at Civitan Park.

Powell, Pittsylvania’s No. 5 hitter, went 4-for-5 with two home runs and four runs batted in, while Payne, the No. 3 batter, was 3-for-5 and knock in four. Every Pittsylvania starter had at least one hit, except the team’s No. 4 batter, Ryan Tomlinson.

Powell broke open the game in the top of the fourth with his second home run of the game. Pittsylvania led 7-6, when Powell connected for a three-run home run over the center field fence off Rockingham reliever Cody Coburn.

Pittsylvania tacked on two unearned runs in the fifth and three more tallies in the sixth to put the game out of reach and advance to today’s championship against Rockingham.

Pittsylvania opened the scoring in the second as Powell leadoff with a single. Justin Moser doubled and Hunter Goad was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Will Lewis followed with a double off the left field fence to knock in Powell and Moser. Austin Lewis walked to reload the bases, but Will Lewis was picked off second for the first out. Dillon Wray singled home Goad. After a strikeout, Payne smashed a ground-rule double to score Austin Lewis and Wray to give Pittsylvania a 5-0 lead.

Rockingham cut into the deficit in the bottom of the inning. Ethan Baucom, who was 2-for-4 in the game, smashed a solo home run leading off. Montek Johnson followed with a single and John Taylor reached on an error by Powell. Brandon Ingram reached on a bunt single and Johnson scored when Will Lewis’ throw sailed into right field for an error. Joe Butler and Joseph Griffith followed with run-scoring ground outs to trim the lead to 5-4.

Powell smashed a solo home run to lead off the third for Pittsylvania County, but Rockingham roared back to tie the game in the home half of the inning. Evan Spears walked, stole second and moved to third when Baucom’s ground ball was misplayed for an error. Taylor plated both Spears and Baucom with a double to knot the contest at 6, setting up Powell’s heroics in fourth.

The loss sent Rockingham into the loser’s bracket to face Great Neck in an elimination contest.

n Rockingham 6, Great Neck 3 — Cody Leviner to advance to the championship round of the Bronco Regional.

Cody Leviner pitched six innings and collected three strikeouts to help lead Rockingham to a 6-3 victory over Great Neck and face Pittsylvania County for the regional crown.

“He’s our stud and he’s just a competitor,” Rockingham coach Jason Ingram said. “It’s just too bad that we can’t use him again.”

Under the Pony baseball guidelines, a pitcher is restricted of pitching again the following day after pitching the maximum seven innings. Leviner pitched one inning against Pittsylvania County before going six innings of work against Great Neck.

Rockingham will play Pittsylvania County today at 6 p.m. If Rockingham wins, the two teams will play one final game to decide the winner of the regional.

In Rockingham’s 10-3 victory Tuesday, Great Neck outhit Rockingham, but committed eight errors that led to Rockingham’s seven-run victory. This time, Great Neck recorded seven hits, while limiting Rockingham to four hits.

Great Neck was again beaten by its own miscues. The team committed four errors, including three that led to three Rockingham runs.

Cross Holfert drew a walk off Great Neck’s starter David Van Geluwe to lead off the first inning, and advanced to second on a passed ball. After a strikeout, Holfert moved to third on a passed ball. Van Geluwe walked Leviner, who stole second, placing runners on second and third. Holfert and Leviner later scored on a ground ball by Ethan Baucom, which was misplayed by Great Neck’s shortstop Lane Wildman, giving Rockingham a 2-0 lead.

In the third inning, Rockingham increased its advantage to 6-0. The first run was assisted by a Great Neck error. Holfert again led off with a walk off Andrew Altman. Holfert later stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball. Altman fumbled Evan Spears’ grounder, and made an errant throw to first that allowed Holfert to score, giving Rockingham a 3-0 advantage.

Leviner helped his own cause with a single to center field, putting runners on first and second with no outs. After Baucom struck out, John Taylor walked to load the bases. Montek Johnson scored Spears on a squeeze bunt to give Rockingham a 4-0 lead. With two outs and the bases loaded, Joe Butler ripped a double to right field that scored Leviner and Taylor to extend to a 6-0 lead.

Great Neck scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings for the final margin.

n Great Neck 9, Chesterfield County 4 — Bodie Sheehan went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in to lead Great Neck to a 9-4 victory and temporarily stay alive in the tournament.

Lane Wildman added two hits in four at-bats with a run batted in, while Alec Clifford went 2-for-3 with a RBI and David Van Geluwe was 2-for-5 with a RBI.

Three Great Neck pitchers combined to limit Chesterfield County to just six hits in the game.

Ian Mayes slugged a three-run home run for Chesterfield County in the defeat.