Day Three - NC American Legion Baseball State Tournament
August 10th, 2007 Posted in American Legion baseball
(complete coverage including photo and video highlights is at our home page for the state playoffs)
Game 1 - Wayne County Legion dominates Rowan County Legion by a score of 19-1.
On a day where the temperature was smoking, so too was the offensive firepower of Wayne County, while Grant Sasser put the Rowan offense on ice.
Wayne County opened up the scoring in the first with a two run home run by Walker Gourley, leading to a three run inning. Wayne didn’t stop scoring as they recored seven more runs in the third, running Rowan County Legion starting pitcher Weston Church from the game. The seven run third was highlighted by a run scoring double from Zach Wright and a two run home run from Jackson Massey. The fourth proved to be no different as the heat wave from Wayne County’s offense provided seven more runs. Zach Wright connected on a double that plated two runs and Thomas Pilkington brought home two more runs on a single, while Massey laced a triple scoring two more and Gourley drove in a run on a single.
As the Wayne hitters were lighting up the scoreboard, the strong Rowan lineup couldn’t seem to buy a hit off Wayne County starting pitcher Grant Sasser. Sasser, whom is committed to play baseball for nearby NC State next fall, was brilliant. Sasser threw three perfect innings before giving up a hit and a run on a sacrifice fly in the fourth. That proved to be the only run that Rowan could muster up against Sasser. Wayne County was not finished however as they got two more in the seventh from a Wooten double scoring a run, and Wright coming through with another single that scored yet another run.
Wayne County stays alive for a state championship, while Rowan’s fine 40-win season comes to an end.
Game 2 - Durham takes out the host team Garner with a score of 16-5.
If you are a fan of high scoring affairs where the score looks more like a football score than a baseball score, then today was your lucky day. The first game produced 20 runs and the second would produce 21 runs. Durham came out just as hot as Wayne County did in the first game if not hotter. Durham erupted for five runs in the top of the first, two more in the second, four in the third, two in the fourth, and three in the fifth. Garner seemed like they might keep with Durham as they got two in the bottom of the first and three more in the bottom of the second, but Garner didn’t score the rest of the way, as Durham cruised from there to keep their state championship chances alive.
Game 3 - Cherryville blasts Caldwell County by a score of 13-4.
This was a rematch of the Area IV championship in which Cherryville won the series, and this outcome was similar. Cherryville put two runs on the board in the first as they strung a couple of hits together off of Caldwell starter Josh Severt, and then Cherryville put up a six spot in the second. In the second, Jake Watts led off with a double that was followed by a string of wild pitches, walks, Caldwell errors, and a couple key Cherryville hits that would result in the six runs, and an early 8-0 lead. Caldwell was not intimidated by the early lead, and started to come back in the third inning. Clawson drove in two on a single and then scored on a Coffey single to cut the lead to 8-3. Cherryville made it 9-3 in the fourth on a Finger solo home run. Caldwell got another run in the sixth, but it would be their final one. Cherryville however kept scoring. McSwain led off the sixth for Cherryville with a triple and then scored on a single from Blake. Blake would steal second and score on a single from Finger. Two batters later, Cherryville star Chris Henderson put an exclamation point on the Cherryville victory with a two run home run. Cherryville moves on as the only undefeated team left in the tournament and they are in the drivers seat for taking home the 2007 American Legion State Championship in North Carolina.
[Where: Garner, NC]
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