NC American Legion Baseball State Playoffs - Semifinals
August 11th, 2007 Posted in American Legion baseballCaldwell County Legion beats Durham Legion 6-2
Caldwell County Legion had a spontaneous and very emotional players only team meeting on the bus after their loss to Cherryville last night, discussing their goal of bringing home a state championship. Most of Caldwell’s starting lineup played on the 2007 state champion South Caldwell High School baseball team, so they were talking from experience. Team meetings don’t score runs or record outs, but Caldwell said the meeting helped focus them for today’s game, and Caldwell did indeed come out ready to play, beating Durham Legion, to advance to the final day of state playoff play.
A Brad Craig homer led off the Caldwell second, and a Josh Severt hit followed by a two-run home run from Brad Chavis in the third gave Caldwell a 3-0 lead that they would never relinquish. Durham had chances in the early innings, but gutty Caldwell pitcher Cody Poarch and the Caldwell defense got all the critical outs: a double play in the first with the bases loaded; a ground out stranding runners at second and third in the second; another double play in the third; three consecutive huge strikeouts in the fourth after Durham had put runners on first and third with nobody out; and finally a Josh Severt catch as he crashed against the right field wall to keep the leadoff runner off base in the fifth.
Brad Chavis led off the sixth with his second homer of the night, a laser to center. The Chavis homer was followed by a Craig hit and a Coffey double, putting runners at second and third with nobody out. After a ground out with the Durham infield playing in kept the runners at second and third, Gordy Hendrix was intentionally walked. Josh Shehan foiled the strategy, ripping the first pitch right back up the middle to score Caldwell’s fifth run, ending the night for Durham’s starting pitcher Tyler Robinson. Alan Sclitz took the mound for Durham in relief, despite throwing seven innings yesterday, and got the final two outs to keep Caldwell’s lead at 5-0.
In the sixth, Durham broke through on a Stover bullet home run to center that was almost a carbon copy of the Chavis laser. However, Caldwell got the run right back in the seventh on a solo homer of their own, Brad Craig’s second of the night.
A tenacious Durham team wasn’t finished though. Mangili hit a leadoff home run in the seventh to cut the Caldwell lead to 6-2. Caldwell then brought in star pitcher Jimmy Messer, and Messer quickly set down the side on a couple ground outs and a strikeout. Messer worked an easy eighth as well, before Durham made one last gasp effort in the ninth, getting runners to second and third with nobody out. Messer was up for the challenge however, striking out Durham’s number three and four hitters, and then getting a ground out to end the game.
Coach Gary Hamby said after the game that all his pitchers other than Poarch will be available on Sunday. Caldwell will hope that star catcher Brad Chavis is healthy after he had to leave the game in the late innings after apparently hurting his hand or wrist while catching.
Photo and video highlights of the Caldwell County vs Durham game will be posted on Sunday.
Wayne County Legion beats Cherryville Legion 10-5
Cherryville Legion scored two in the second, keyed by a Chris Henderson hit, to take an early 2-0 lead. Wayne County Legion responded in the third, scoring their first run on an infield hit and a Jackson Massey RBI double. The Massey double put runners at second and third, and setup Wayne’s second run on an infield grounder off the bat of Walker Gourley. However, on the grounder, the Massey got caught between second and third and was tagged out, and then Cherryville made a quick throw to second to catch Gourley trying to advance to second.
The fourth inning was an important early inning. Wayne scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead in the top of the inning, and cause Cherryville coach Bobby Reynolds to give a quick hook to his starting pitcher, going to the bullpen early. Cherryville however came right back with a leadoff single followed by a double hit to the fence, scoring a run to cut the lead to 4-3. On that play, the Wayne outfielder fell down after crashing into the fence, and the Cherryville runner tried to stretch his hit into a triple. However a perfect throw from the warning track by the Wayne outfielder backing up the play caught the Cherryville runner as he rounded the third base bag, and helped cut off what could have been a big Cherryville inning. Cherryville also had an opportunity in the sixth, getting runners on second and third with one out and the middle of the order up, but Wayne County’s starting pitcher Brandon Price bore down to get a strike out and a ground out to strand both runners. Price was tremendous all night, overcoming the tough combination of a small strike zone and the explosive Cherryville lineup.
Wayne added a run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly to extend their lead to 5-3, and then scored three huge runs in the eighth to take an 8-3 lead. The eighth was keyed by a two-out Nolan Lancaster RBI hit which scored the first Wayne run of the inning, and kept the inning alive for the top of the order, and they cashed in two more runs before Cherryville could finally shut the door. Cherryville got two back in the bottom of the eighth on back to back two out doubles from Finger and Watts, a Henderson hit, and a hard hit grounder that took a bad hop to get past the Wayne third baseman and score Cherryville’s fifth run. Price was clearly near the end of his rope after battling all night, but summoned up enough to get Nate Wright to ground back to the mound, and then made a good play on the ball to retire Wright and end the inning.
At 8-5, with a dangerous Cherryville offense that has already how capable they are of rallying to win close games, Wayne County knew that scoring in the ninth was critical, and they did exactly that, getting a two-run home run from Tyler Ham to add two huge insurance runs to their lead. Jay Rose took over for Brandon Price on the mound for Wayne in the ninth, after Price pitched eight tenacious innings. Rose came in throwing heat and throwing strikes, quickly closing out the Wayne County 10-5 victory. Wayne’s victory means that both Wayne County and Caldwell County come out of the loser’s bracket to play at 1pm on Sunday. The winner will play Cherryville for the state championship afterwards. Wayne County Coach Brad Reaves said after the game that all of his pitchers other than Price and Grant Sasser (pitched six innings on Friday) would be available on Sunday.
Photo and video highlights of the Wayne County vs Cherryville game will be posted on Sunday.
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[Where: Garner, NC]
