SUMTER – Despite dropping their first game of the season, the Fort Mill Post 43 Juniors will still play in the 2021 American Legion Juniors state championship game Thursday.
Post 43 fell to Hartsville 3-2 to put their season record at 19-1. They will now face West Florence at 10 a.m. Thursday at Riley Park in Sumter for a winner take all game in the double elimination tournament. West Florence eliminated Hartsville later in the day Wednesday by a score of 11-7.
Both Hartsville and Post 43 started putting up runs from the first inning as they both came away from the inning tied at 2-2. Fort Mill opened the inning with Carter Cox singling to open the game. He was driven in two batters later by Paul Solari who also singled. Rylee Ashworth would then single to knock in Luke Keller, who reached on an error. Post 43 would get five hits in the game, with four of them coming in the first inning.
Hartsville came back in the bottom of the first to tie the game getting two runs on two hits. Avery Childs went the distance on the mound for Post 43 giving up just three runs and five hits, while striking out five and walking one as Fort Mill struggled to give him the run support he needed.
In the third inning, Hartsville scored a run on two hits and a Post 43 error, one of two in the game.
Seniors fall to Greer
In a night cap Wednesday at Fort Mill High, Post 43 Seniors fell to the Greer Post 115 Warhawks 6-5 to move to the consolation bracket in the double elimination state tournament.
Fort Mill was supposed to open the senior tournament playing Inman Post 45, but Inman had to drop out of the tournament because it didn’t have enough players. Legion rules state you have to have at least 12 players to play.
The battle between Greer and Post 43 went back and forth as Fort Mill rallied in the late part of the game, but didn’t pull it off. Greer struck first in the third inning scoring a run to go up 1-0 off two hits.
Post 43 came back in the bottom of the fifth to take a 2-1 lead off a two-run home run from Patrick Matthews. Matthews went 2-4 with two RBI in the game. The lead was short lived as Greer scored five runs in the top of the sixth with the help of a grand slam giving them a 5-2 lead at that point.
The rally for Post 43 came in the bottom of the sixth as they scored three runs on four hits. Chase Dougherty led the inning off with a single, followed by a single from Aaron Pendergast, who also went 2-4 in the game. Nic Curtis, who went 1-3 with two RBI, laced a double to score Dougherty and Pendergast. Kenan Sumner also drove in a run in the inning scoring Curtis on an RBI single. Sumner went 2-3 in the game as well.
Post 43 next plays at 1 p.m. Friday at Segra Park in Columbia against the winner of the Charleston-Lexington game, who plays Thursday night. Fort Mill is now 17-5 on the season overall.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
