Friday, July 24, 2009
Post 68 takes title -- with second chance
Ray Cox covers recreational, high school and college sports in the New River Valley. If you have information you’d like featured,
e-mail ray.cox@roanoke.com or call 381-1672
Ray Cox
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The beauty of the American Legion district baseball tournament is the second chance.
New River Valley Post 68's team accepted one. That's all the boys are going to get.
"Sorry about that," assistant coach Barnett Carr was saying to business manager Danny Evans after the squad got thumped but good by Big Island Post 217 in an elimination game Wednesday. "Should have got them this time."
"We'll get 'em tomorrow," said Evans, cancer survivor and retired coach.
It's nice to have a guaranteed tomorrow. Big Island sure didn't. A barrage of base hits and a 14-7 final score gave the Bedford Countians the privilege to play some more baseball with a shredded pitching staff.
The loss set up a winner-take-all game at noon Thursday in Salem at Kiwanis Field.
And Post 68 didn't miss its final chance. The second-seeded outfit from the New River Valley defeated Big Island, 10-6. A three-run home run by Nate Hiner and a solo shot by Zach Chrisley sealed the game's outcome midway through.
Post 68 now advances to the American Legion state tournament, which runs Monday through July 31 at the Virginia Sports Complex in Ruther Glen.
Usually in these double-elimination tournaments, the pitching goes first. By the end of it, usually the team that has one guy left who can throw an effective pitch somewhere near the strike zone is going to win.
That was a fact that eased the pain a little for Hiner heading into Thursday's contest.
"We got three of our best pitchers ready to go," the New River Valley first baseman said. "Seth Martin, Mark Manthe, Devin Smith -- we'll be alright."
Both lefty Martin and Manthe had tournament victories heading into Thursday. And yet ... there were worries.
"If we play like we did today..." Post 68 catcher Corey Lowe said Wednesday. Lowe left Thursday's game with an injury following the first inning.
Wednesday wasn't a very happy evening.
First-year coach Greg Dudding went with a hunch and started lightly used and still hurt Zach Atkins at pitcher Wednesday. Atkins, another Concord player, has been out of action all summer with a hamstring problem.
"It's still not right," he said.
Atkins, a Giles High grad, is a gamer and he gave it what he had. A strikeout and a double-play made for a quick first inning. Atkins struggled after that. The first three batters of the second went walk-walk-single, run scored. Two outs later, Matt Wallman, batting ninth, ripped a two-run single and that was all for Atkins.
"Show them something different," Dudding said of the decision. "They'd never seen him."
Southpaw James Woods got Post 68 out of second and through the third only giving up one run to make the score 4-1, Big Island. The first three batters of the fourth, Nos. 7, 8, 9 in the lineup -- Rudisill, Byron Sanderson and Wallman -- went homer, single, two-run blast.
Bobby Shelton followed with another single and on came third reliever Shane Woodrum, who limited the opposition to two runs in 3 13 innings. Justin Bishop finished up.
The bats have been solid throughout. Against Post 217, Hiner smoked a line drive homer to left in the eighth, his second poke of the tournament. Hiner, who plans to walk on for Radford University's squad the coming school year, said he'd been getting good results from improvements he's made to his stance.
Eric Houff has been killing the ball. He hammered one out late in the 6-5 thriller that eliminated Lynchburg on Tuesday.
Lowe has settled in at catcher -- he threw out a failed Lynchburg base stealer by two steps and came close to making a similar play in the Big Island game -- and he's hitting, too: 2-for-4 with a double Wednesday.
Second baseman Chrisley and shortstop Rickey Sowers have been a solid double-play combo. Ben Eads can stroke it. Manthe is a mean No. 7 hitter.
Smith, batting cleanup, is among the league's most-feared hitters. Kelly Kline in center is a blue streak in spikes. He made an unreal go-get-'em catch and throw for a double play against Big Island. Leading off, he tripled and scored twice.
So there it was for Post 68 Thursday. Two potential outcomes were at hand.
Do it.
Or done for.
With one last shot at that elusive championship, Martin took the mound and went nearly seven innings and Post 68 captured the district title.
