Legion baseball in full swing

The world of sports never slows down in Surry County.

Many local baseball players jumped right into American Legion competition following the conclusion of their respective high school seasons.

The final county high school program still competing in the NCHSAA playoffs was Mount Airy’s baseball team, which fell in the 1A West Regional Final on May 25. With the Granite Bears’ historic season over, all eyes turned to the local legion program of Foothills Post 123.

Foothills 123 didn’t field a senior legion team this summer, but there are three junior squads: Foothills North, Foothills East and Foothills West.

Two of the Foothills’ teams — North and West — faced off on May 28. The game was held at Mount Airy High School.

The Wild Wild West

West scored three runs across the fifth and sixth innings to clinch the 6-4 victory over North.

West led 3-1 through four innings before North piled on a trio of runs in the top of the fifth. North’s lead was short-lived, however, as West quickly countered with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth thanks to RBI doubles from David Weatherford (North Wilkes High School) and Landon Gallimore (Mount Airy High School).

Kasen White (Surry Central) added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth by hitting a triple that scored Jax Whitaker (Surry Central).

North didn’t lay down and quickly loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, doing so with no outs on the board. Cameron Shores (Elkin) took over on the mound and ended the game after facing just four batters.

North put runners on base in six-of-seven innings. While the visitors were out-hit 8-5, North benefited from eight bases on balls and two hit by pitches.

Despite putting more runners on base, North struggled to turn that into runs. North left 12 runners stranded during Tuesday’s game, including loaded bases in both the first and seventh innings, while West had four runners left on base.

Pardue and White each had two hits for West, while four players each had one hit: Weatherford, Gallimore, Brayden Woodring (Surry Central) and Bryson Grey (Mount Airy). Of West’s eight hits, three were doubles and one was a triple.

Kinley Stanley (North Surry) led his team with two hits, then Beau Carson, Garrett Senter and Caleb Gammons, all from North Surry, had one each. Carson and Stanley each had a double.

North scored first in Tuesday’s game. Leadoff Carson hit a fly ball to right field to earn a double, then Kyler Simmons (North Surry) was walked and Stanley was hit by a pitch. West committed an error on a pickoff attempt that allowed Carson to score.

North scored in both the first and fourth innings, and both times West responded in the inning’s bottom half.

Like North, West’s leadoff batter — Pardue — doubled with a hit to the outfield. A ground ball hit by Weatherford was thrown over the first baseman’s glove to allow Pardue to score. Pardue stole second, moved to third on a ground out then reached the plate when Landon Gallimore hit a sacrifice fly.

North only put one player on base in the second and fourth innings; Carson was walked in the top of the second, and Nick Burnett (North Surry) was walked in the fourth. In the middle, Stanley and Senter each had singles to start the third inning. Stanley got out going to third on a fielder’s choice, Zamarri Sweatman (North Surry) was picked off stealing third then Landon Gallimore picked up his fifth strikeout of the game. He went on to finish the game with eight strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings pitched.

West had a similar output across the second and third innings. Grey began the second inning with a single, then Whitaker was walked. North catcher Senter picked Grey off at second base, then the inning ended after a ground out and flyout.

Pardue led off with a single in the third, but West wouldn’t progress past first base in the inning.

Grey scored in the bottom of the fourth inning to increase West’s lead to 3-1. Woodring began the inning by sending a line drive to left-center field, then was called out on a fielder’s choice hit by Grey. Whitaker hit a ground ball that led to a fielding error by North, which allowed Grey to round second base and head to third. North committed another error, this time attempting to pick off Whitaker going to second, to allow Grey to score and make it 3-1.

North looked to respond in the top of the fifth, and did so by loading the bases: Stanley doubled, Senter was walked and Brooks Robertson (North Surry) was hit by a pitch. North had bases loaded with two outs when Burnett was walked to make it 3-2. Gammons followed by hitting a line drive to left-center to score two more runs and put North up 4-3.

West evened things up through three batters in the inning’s bottom half. White singled, but got out on a fielder’s choice hit by Pardue. North attempted to turn a double play, but the throw to first sailed out of play to give Pardue a free trip to second. A hit from Weatherford hit the fence in right-center field to bring Pardue back home. North picked up the inning’s second out by catching a pop fly, but Landon Gallimore hit an RBI double of his own to put West back on top 5-4.

West carried momentum into the top of the sixth by sending North’s first three batters back to the dugout. Whitaker reached first base on an error in the bottom of the sixth, then scored when White hit a line drive down the right field line that earned him a triple.

North remained patient in the top of the seventh and earned three-straight bases on balls. West picked up the first out of the inning by catching a pop fly in center field, then another behind the plate in foul territory.

West’s Shores ended the game with a strikeout.

Pitching

FH North

Jonah Adams — 6 IP, 2K, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 8H, 6R

FH West

Landon Gallimore — 4 1/3 IP, 8K, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 4H, 3R

Eli Ayers — 1 2/3 IP, 2K, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 1H, 1R

Cameron Shores — 1 IP, 1K, 1 BB, 0 HBP, 0H, 0R

Scoring

FH North — 1, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0 — 4

FH West — 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1, X — 6