BELTON — Longtime sporadic cross-county foes Temple and Belton met for the first time in four years for a tense test on the hardwood last December.

They carried it to the diamond Friday.

Habt Childers pitched five innings of one-run ball and Belton built a slim lead through the first three innings before holding off Temple with a pair of late double plays to post a 2-1 win in the first installment between these Leon River rivals — each of which are under the direction of new head coaches — since the spring of 2022 when they shared a district.

Temple (4-11-2), which outhit the Tigers 7-4, trailed 2-0 through three innings but continued to fill the bases and force Belton (11-6) to get out of some tough spots, notably in the final two frames at noisy, mostly-filled Tidwell Field.