For the second year in a row and the third time in four years, Wayne County is heading to the American Legion Baseball State Tournament thanks to their three-game sweep of Pitt County Post 39 in the NC Area 1 East Championship Series which took place from July 8-10.
Game 1Wayne County’s Everette Johnson got the scoring started off early in game one of the series when, in the bottom of the first inning with just one out and one runner on base, he hit an RBI single to score Miles Hamm and gave them a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, with still just one out, Johnson then also came home to score when he was knocked in by a Davis Albert RBI double.
Post 11’s first inning scoring didn’t stop at just two runs though as the next batter up, Joseph Buckley, was hit by a pitch to load the bases which allowed Connor Radford to knock John McLamb home from third base during the next at-bat with a sacrifice fly to give them a 3-0 lead.
In the second inning, Wayne County’s hot start on offense continued as batters Drew Sweet and Lawson Tyndall opened up the bottom of the inning with back-to-back walks. After a sacrifice bunt by Hamm to get both runners in scoring position, Wyatt Lassitter then knocked in Sweet with a sacrifice fly to extend Post 11’s lead to 4-0. One at-bat later, Tyndall also came home to score as Johnson hit an RBI single to knock him home.
Even down 5-0, Pitt County didn’t give up, and Pitt County batters Rakeem Williams and Josh Tripp opened up the top of the third inning with back-to-back singles. After a strikeout by Mason Hobbs, Pitt County’s Brody Stallings then knocked in the first run of the game with an RBI single. During the next at-bat, Pitt County scored their second run of the game to cut Wayne County’s lead to 5-2 when Jacob Scott hit a groundball and was able to reach first safely thanks to an error which also allowed Tripp to score.
Their comeback was short-lived though as Connor Radford hit a one-out triple for Wayne County in the bottom of the third inning and was knocked in to score on the next play with a Drew Sweet sacrifice bunt to extend their lead to 6-2.
That run not only stopped the Pitt County comeback, but it also seemed to give Wayne County the momentum they needed to run away with the game, and in the bottom of the fifth, Wayne County scored two more runs as Radford and Hamm both hit RBI singles to give Wayne County an 8-2 lead. They would go on to extend their lead to 11-2 before Pitt County finally scored again in the seventh inning when they put three runs up on the scoreboard. It was too little too late though for Post 39 as Wayne County won by a final score of 11-5.
Game 2Just like in the first game, Wayne County came out firing in game number two of the series, and they opened up the top of the first inning with three singles in a row from Hamm, Wyatt Lassiter, and Johnson with Johnson’s single earning him an RBI by scoring Hamm.
After giving up three straight singles, Pitt County’s starting pitcher, Christian Chance, seemed to have his confidence shaken, and he began to lose control of the strike zone which resulted in him walking the next three batters to walk in two runners and give Wayne County a 3-0 lead.
With the bases still loaded, he then gave up a two-RBI double to Radford which extended the Post 11 lead all the way to 5-0 in the first inning. With still no outs and runners on second and third base, Chance found his composure, and he earned a strikeout and forced a popout and a groundout to end the inning.
Despite falling behind once again though, Pitt County didn’t give up, and in the bottom of the second inning, pitcher Christian Chance stepped up the batter’s box and knocked in Scott for his team’s first run of the game to make the score 5-1.
In the very next inning, Post 11’s Albert put his team up by five runs again with a solo home run over the right field wall. Still, the Post 39 players kept fighting, and in the bottom of the fourth inning, Chance knocked in two more runners with a two-RBI single to cut Wayne County’s lead to 6-3.
Ultimately though, the Wayne County offense proved to be too much for Pitt County to handle, and Post 11 scored eight unanswered runs before Pitt County finally scored again in the sixth inning to win by a final score of 14-4.
Game 3
After winning the first two games in dominate fashion, it looked as if Post 11 was headed for another one-sided victory in game three of three of the series as they got off to a 4-0 start thanks to an RBI double by Everette Johnson in the bottom of the first inning, an RBI single by McLamb in the bottom of the third inning, and a two-RBI single from Albert also in the bottom of the third inning.
This time however, they were unable to hold on to their lead like they did in the first two games as Garrett Byrd started out the top of the fourth inning struggling to locate the strike zone, and he walked the first two batters he faced— hitting the second with a pitch. During the next at-bat, Rooke Knittle’s well-placed bunt resulted in a Wayne County error, and Scott came home to score to cut the Wayne County lead to 4-1.
After a single by Bailor Peebles to load the bases and a strikeout by Chance, Byrd walked another batter which allowed Max Mason to score and cut the Wayne County lead to two runs. The excellent offensive inning continued for Pitt County, and the next batter up, Josh Tripp, knocked in Knittle to cut the lead to one before Peebles came home on a passed ball to tie the game. Later during the same at-bat, Post 39 took a 5-4 lead—their first of the entire series, when Hobbs hit an RBI single to score Williams.
Wayne County found a way to score when they needed to the most though, and in the bottom of the fourth inning, they tied the game at 5-5 when (with two outs) McLamb hit an RBI single which scored Wyatt Lassiter.
After a defensive battle in which no runs were scored in the fifth or sixth innings, Wayne County’s Joseph Buckley then delivered the biggest hit of the night. With two outs and runners at first and second, he hit a walk-off RBI single to score Casey Culbreth and give Wayne County a 6-5 game three win and a 3-0 series win.
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