Nansemond River senior Josh Howard’s had plenty of more impressive outings, at least judging by the final stats, on the mound this season than he did for the Warriors Monday evening in the first round of the Southeastern District Tournament.

None of those wins, or even shutouts, that Howard’s fired were more important than keeping the visiting Braves off the board for the last two innings of NR’s 6-5 win that keeps the Warriors’ season going for at least one more game.

“Josh has been doing it all year for us,” said Nansemond River head coach Mark Stuffel. “He’s been that kind of kid for us.”

Indian River, the No. 6 seed in the six-team tournament, strung together three straight hits with two outs in the top of the fifth, including a two-run homer, for a three-run rally making the score 5-5.

The Warriors regained the lead, with Howard helping out his own cause.

Blake Eure opened the Warrior fifth with a double and the Warriors, normally a slugging squad throughout their 15-6 record in the regular season, got Eure around and in without another ball leaving the infield.

Leadoff hitter Tyler Brown bunted to sacrifice Eure to third. Howard hit a grounder up the middle. The Brave shortstop made a fine diving stop and throw to get Howard as Eure scored the go-ahead run.

From there, the Warriors did just enough to hang on and make it to Wednesday’s district semis.

With a runner on in the IR sixth, Howard got a grounder to Travis Johnson at first, with the tying runner moving up to second. Howard fired a strikeout to retire the side.

In the IR seventh, the Warriors got the first two outs before a single, a walk, then a wild pitch, set up Braves on second and third.

On the wild pitch, the runner rounding third was sprinting hard and perhaps racing for the plate before he slipped a couple strides down the line and had to scramble back to third.

On the following pitch, a 1-2 pitch, the Brave batter sliced a liner that fell barely foul down the rightfield line, a hit that likely would’ve scored both runners. On a 2-2 pitch, Howard got the batter swinging at a low, off-speed pitch for the final out.

The Warriors initially got the lead after falling behind 2-0. The Warriors partially took advantage of five walks given to them in the second inning, scoring two runs but leaving the bases loaded.

Designated hitter Hayden Champigny belted a two-run homer, a shot over the centerfield fence, to give the Warriors a 4-2 lead in the third.

Travis Johnson hit a two-out RBI double, scoring Kyle Moore, for another Warrior run in the fourth.

“I just saw the ball and hit it. I couldn’t tell what type of pitch it was,” Champigny said. It’s his fourth homer of the season.

“Coming into the game I was sort of second-guessing myself. I had a high-ankle sprain a couple weeks ago,” Champigny said, “I got back to what the coaches have been teaching me and was just trying to put the ball in play hard somewhere.”

In the opening game of the district softball tourney at Nansemond River, No. 3-seeded Great Bridge took care of No. 6 Nansemond River (9-12) with an 11-1 win in six innings.

Great Bridge led 8-0 before the Lady Warriors got on the board in the top of the sixth. Loren Daubenspeck’s triple scored Shelbi Holloman but the inning ended on the same play as Daubenspeck was thrown out after rounding third too far.

Nansemond River managed seven hits on the evening but had three runners thrown out at third.