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BECKLEY — Wheeling Post 1 remained undefeated in the West Virginia American Legion State Tournament over the weekend, picking up a 3-1 victory over Berkeley Post 14 on Saturday and an abbreviated 10-0 win over South Charleston Post 94 on Sunday from Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley.
With the tournament’s double-elimination format, Post 1 finds themselves in the driver’s seat heading into Monday, needing to be beaten twice by a familiar foe in order to bow out of the postseason stage.
After defeating Parkersburg Post 15 for 3-2 last week 3-2 on July 17 for the Area 1 crown, Post 1 will once again face Parkersburg for the state championship on Monday. Post 15 has wins over Bridgeport and Beckley, and a loss to Berkeley.
On Saturday, it was a two-run fifth inning which shook up a 1-1 tie vs. Berkeley, as Jake Brown hit an RBI single and Kayden Knapp drew a bases-loaded walk in the frame.
On the opposite end, Aleks Zanieski and Tucker Doty combined to limit Berekeley. Zanieski worked the first four innings of the game, where Post 14 scored one unearned run in the fourth, and struck out seven. Doty pitched the final three innings, striking out two and allowing just two hits.
Jake Brown tripled as part of a two-hit, two-run day.
On Sunday, Post 1 needed just five innings to end their contest vs. South Charleston in a run-rule victory.
Wheeling collected 14 hits as a team in the condenses time-frame, and Kayden Knapp threw all five innings, allowing just one hit to Post 94.
Chris Upton collected four hits, two singles and two doubles, from the top of the batting order for Post 1. He scored twice. Jake Brown drove in three runs and Dom Fato had two hits and two RBI. Seven Post 1 players finished with an RBI on Sunday. Their victory was punctuated by a five-run fifth inning.
Post 1 and Post 15 will play at 1 p.m. on Monday. Should a second game be necessary, it will begin 30 minutes after the first game’s conclusion.
Post 1 are the state champions from the last two years. The winner of the West Virginia State Tournament will move on to the American Legion Southeast Regional Tournament in Cherryville, N.C., which begins on August 5.