Moundsville Post 3’s Comeback Falls Short in 10-7 Loss
BETHANY — It was not looking good for Moundsville Post 3 going into the fifth inning. Down 10-0, it was down to its final at-bat before the mercy rule was put in place. Post 3, gave it everything it had left in the tank as it had smart at-bats and took advantage of the struggling pitching by Bridgeport. Scoring six runs in the fifth, the lead proved to be too big for Moundsville as it fell 10-7 to Post 68 during the West Virginia American Legion state tournament at Bethany.
Bridgeport will play Wheeling today at 1 p.m.
“We were right there,” Moundsville coach Dave Yeater said. “Just a couple hits. The center fielder made two nice running catches. That takes us out of the inning. We hit the ball well (Friday) and we played defense.”
Bridgeport scored six runs in the third inning on four hits including a home run by Zach Musgrove. Post 68 then increased the lead with two runs in the fourth inning to put the score at 10-0.
With it’s backs up against the wall, Post 3 started to come to life in the fifth inning. After three walks to load the bases, Steven Bailey had his second hit of the ball game and brought home the team’s first two runs to put the score at 10-2.
After two more runs came in on a walk and a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded, Cubbie Varner kept the inning going as he put across the sixth run. Varner had a RBI-single and the score read, 10-6 in favor of Bridgeport.
“We settled down and we told them, ‘Hey, we can get right back in this.’ And we did,” Yeater said. “I’m proud of them. They did a good job.”
Chris Barry pushed across Moundsville’s final run of the game in the sixth inning after a sacrifice fly to center field to put the score at 10-7.
“We played well for the early innings,” Bridgeport manager Ed Oliverio said. “We hit the ball well and executed well. We got up and more or less, they put it in cruise control. They didn’t take it as seriously as they had early on. Obviously, we weren’t executing like we were early on. In the fifth inning, we put a pitcher in there with that lead, and the only thing we’re trying to achieve is for somebody to throw strikes and to get us through those innings. We couldn’t find the zone and it made the game tighter than what we wanted it to be.”
Post 68 got the first run of the game as Tanner Furber stole home after tallying the first hit with a single.
Joseph Dodrill drilled a double in the third inning while Chapin Murphy followed with a two-run single to put the score at 5-0. JT Harris also brought home two runs on a hit that put Bridgeport up 7-0.
Musgrove secured a single and his home run while Murphy had two singles for Bridgeport.
For Moundsville, Bailey had three singles on the day.
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