Following a promising start for the La Plata American Legion Post 82 baseball team in its state tournament title defense last week, the defending champions were unable to sustain the early momentum and were eventually dethroned in the fourth game by the eventual state champs.
La Plata (19-5 overall) won its first two games of the state tournament at Parker Sports Complex in Salisbury, blanking Cissel-Saxon Post 40 of Montgomery County, 5-0, behind five strong innings from Dylan Bell then downed Funkstown Post 211 of Washington County, 5-2, as starter Austin Simms allowed only one earned run in five innings and Trevor Drummond went 2 for 2 and collected a two-inning save.
Thursday, La Plata was sent to the losers bracket following a 8-2 setback against Cecil County. That final score was hardly indicative of how close the game was throughout as Cecil County broke open a close game by scoring six runs in the top of the seventh to extend the advantage to 8-1 one inning after Post 82 had trimmed the deficit to 2-1.
Then on Friday afternoon in their first venture into the losers’ bracket, La Plata’s season came to an end when it fell to Severna Park Post 175 of Anne Arundel County, 5-2.
Once again, the score was hardly indicative of how close the contest actually was as Severna Park broke a 2-2 tie by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh against reliever Zach Harris, who took the loss although only one run was earned.
“We played four good teams and we played well in all four games,” La Plata coach Dave Harris said. “We had outstanding pitching from our starters. In each of those last two games we just had one bad inning and it was the seventh inning that got us. We had a couple of errors one game and a passed ball in the other.”
Through six innings the teams were virtually inseparable. La Plata scored one run in the bottom of the first, but Severna Park, which eventually won the state tournamwnt, countered with two runs in the top of the third against Post 82 starter Trevor Drummond.
La Plata drew even in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out rally without a hit as Matt Schnoor, Kevon Wharton and Patrick Estevez all walked to load the bases and Drummond walked to force in the tying run.
One day earlier in the to Cecil County in a winners’ bracket contest, La Plata trailed 2-1 heading to the top of the seventh only to watch Cecil score six runs to break open the contest following a 45-minute rain delay. La Plata got one run back in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out single by Estevez that scored Wharton, but Peyton Myers flew out to center to end the game.
“We had the chance to face some outstanding pitching all four games,” Seth Morrison said. “One of those guys we faced on Severna Park was definitely hitting the 90s on his fastball. Overall, I thought we played well during the tournament. It came down to the last inning in those last two games. We just didn’t make all the plays.”
Harris said the team is looking for players for the 2018 fall season and the 2019 season as a good portion of the team will age out this summer although most of them will not officially turn 20 years of age sometime next fall. Interested players who attend a Charles County school can contact Harris at 301-753-5563.
