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Despair to delight in a matter of minutes.

Wednesday evening proved quite an emotional roller coaster for Polk County.

The Wolverines saw a five-run lead evaporate in the top of the seventh inning, but rebounded to push across the winning run in the bottom half of the inning and take a 9-8 win over East Henderson in a non-conference game at The Bottoms.

The top of the seventh began with Polk County fans dancing in the stands to the sounds of the Village People and ended with those same fans muted as if it were the day the music died.

East Henderson (3-13) loaded the bases on a walk, single and hit batter, then proceeded to get singles to center field from three of the next four hitters to cut Polk’s lead to 8-6. Another hit batter made it 8-7, and a walk made it 8-8.

Polk third baseman Karson Scruggs followed with a key defensive play, scooping up a slow grounder and firing home to force out an Eagle runner for the inning’s second out. First baseman Mason Beiler then snared a looping line drive for the final out to keep the score tied.

Cohen Edwards drew a walk to open the bottom of the seventh, and Zalen McCraw was hit by a pitch before East Henderson recorded a pair of outs. Gunnar Alm was also then hit by a pitch to load the bases and keep the inning alive.

That brought Scruggs to the plate, and the senior took four straight pitches, each called a ball, to draw a walk that brought home courtesy runner Aaron Jackson with the winning run.

Polk County shortstop Lawson Carter gloves an infield grounder before firing to first for an out early in Wednesday’s game

East scored a run in the opening inning, but Polk County (8-9) responded in the second on an Edwards run-scoring single. The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the fifth, when the Wolverines pushed across three runs to grab the upper hand.

Mark Jarrett singled to open the inning, then raced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Noah Harden’s looping single to shallow left scored Jarrett to give Polk a 2-1 lead.

A Scruggs single and a wild pitch preceded Lawson Carter’s single to left that plated Harden. Alex Perry then ripped a double to right-center to score Scruggs and Carter and give Polk a 5-1 advantage.

A walk and two Polk County errors allowed East Henderson to score two runs in the top of the sixth, but the Wolverines responded with a three-run at-bat, scoring those runs without a hit thanks to three walks, two hit batters and an error.

That set the stage for the chaotic final inning.

Carter finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and also earned the win with his inning of relief work. Perry was 1-for-2 with three RBI and pitched six innings, allowing three hits, walking four and striking out five.

Scruggs was 1-for-2 with two RBI, with Jarrett, Edwards and Harden each adding base hits. Polk’s offensive effort was aided by six hit batters and five walks.

Polk County will have until Tuesday to recover from the evening’s theatrics, the Wolverines set to travel to Brevard on that day for a Mountain Foothills 7 Conference game.