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Cherryville wins 2007 North Carolina American Legion State Tournament

Photo: Cherryville wins championships by Thomas Babb Photography

It all came down to this - a rematch of last night’s semifinal game between Area IV champions Cherryville Legion and Area I champions Wayne County Legion. With the championship on the line and each team having their ace on the hill, this game had all the ingredients to be the best game of the tournament. Cherryville was sending their ace, Chris Henderson, to the mound, who pitched a complete game in Cherryville’s opening round victory, and then came right back the next day after catching seven plus innings in 95 degree heat to pitch the end of the game, earning the victory in that game as well. Wayne County also had their ace, Garrett Davis, on the mound. Davis pitched in Wayne County’s first round game, and also had a stellar pitching match up with Caldwell’s ace Jimmy Messer. Davis came away with the loss in the first game, and was looking for a little redemption in this win or go home championship game. Both pitchers have what it takes to dominate a game - Chris Henderson has already played his freshman year at Lenoir-Rhyne College, and Garrett Davis is getting ready for his freshman year at UNC Chapel Hill.

Both pitchers were sharp early as they retired the opposing side in order in the first inning. In the second, both pitchers allowed one runner to reach base but no damage after that. The third inning just like the first - three up and three down for both pitchers. This was clearly a match up where the first mistake by either team could prove to be enough for the other pitcher to lead his team to victory. Henderson kept rolling - retiring the side in the fourth with two strikeouts. Cherryville looked to get something going in the bottom half of the fourth as Payden Houser led the inning off with a single, but Davis got Hoyle to ground into a double play. Paul Finger followed with a single, but Jake Watts flew out to end the inning.

Through four complete innings and this match up was living up to the billing as both pitchers seemed to be in a groove and were just dominating the opposition. In the fifth inning, Wayne County got their first hit off of Henderson as Thomas Pilkington hit a single up the middle with one out. Henderson composed himself to get Narron to ground into a double play to end the inning. Henderson came up to lead off the fifth for Cherryville and laced a single into right center. Cherryville decided to play some small ball and sacrifice bunted Henderson to second as they knew one run could prove to be enough with the way Henderson was pitching. Garrett Davis bore down however, striking out the next two batters to strand Henderson at second, and keep the score tied at zero.

The sixth inning proved to be the inning where one mistake by either pitcher ended up being enough for the other pitcher to shut the door down and lead his team to victory. Wayne was set down in order in the top half of the sixth by Henderson. In the bottom half of the inning, Payden Houser hit a one out single. Hoyle follows by hitting a ground ball to the shortstop that looked like it could be a double play in the making, but the shortstop stayed back instead of charging the ball, and the ball ended up popping out of the palm of his glove. Paul Finger delivers hitting a single to score Houser and make the score 1-0. Two batters later, Henderson helped his own cause, delivering two runs on a double to make the score 3-0. An intimidating Cherryville lead as Henderson had held Wayne to one hit through six innings.

Henderson, now pitching with the three run lead, kept rolling, sitting down the Wayne County hitters in order in the seventh. Jackson Massey relieved Garrett Davis in the seventh for Wayne County. Davis pitched six innings giving up three runs on seven hits and striking out five. Massey retired the side in seventh. Henderson strikes out two in the eighth in another three up and three down inning. In the bottom half of the eighth, Cherryville added three insurance runs. With two outs, Finger starts the rally with a double, and Watts follows by driving Finger home on a single. Henderson drives in Watts with a single, and then Henderson scores on a Hayne’s single to make the score 6-0.

In the ninth inning, with their backs to the wall, Wayne gets a little rally going but comes up short in the end. Zach Wright leads off the inning pinch hitting and hits a ground ball to the shortstop, and the shortstop throws it away. Will Edgerton follows Wright with a double. Henderson strikes out Jackson Massey and gets Walker Gourley to hit a ground ball to the third baseman, but he misplays it and a runner scores to break up the shutout. Henderson however gets the next two Wayne hitters out to end the game, and send Cherryville on to the Southeast Regional to be North Carolina’s representative, as they take home the North Carolina 2007 American Legion Baseball Championship. Henderson finished with a complete game giving up one run on two hits and striking out twelve. Henderson also had three hits and drove in three runs to lead Cherryville to the championship.

The Cherryville victory wraps up our 2007 NC Legion coverage, which featured two of the top teams from Area III, South Rowan Legion and Rowan Legion, and slowly extended out across to other great NC Legion cities. Hope to expand even more next summer - not much beats a good Legion game on a warm summer night.

Playoff photo and video highlights are posted here.

[Where: 27529]

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