ALWS heads to semifinals
Brooklawn's Francis Kinsey (10) has scored a team-high 10 runs and sparked his team's comeback vs. Waipahu. (Photo by Clay Lomneth)

ALWS heads to semifinals

If the first four days of The American Legion World Series (ALWS) are any indication, today’s semifinals may just be pretty exciting.

Pool play produced nine one-run games, breaking a 34-year tournament record. And two of the teams that clinched semifinal berths on Sunday – Chapin-Newberry (S.C.) Post 193 and Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72 – did so by rallying late.

Post 193 will face Medford (Ore.) Post 15, which has rode strong pitching and defense to a 3-0 record, at 4 p.m. today. And Brooklawn, which is attempting to be the first program to win three straight ALWS titles, will face Retif Oil (New Orleans) that went 3-0 in pool play.

Both games will be broadcast live on ESPNU, as will Tuesday’s 7 p.m. championship game.

Medford (Ore.) Post 15 (44-13) vs. Chapin-Newberry (S.C.) Post 193 (30-1), 4 p.m. Post 15 has thrived in close games, winning all three in pool play by one run. The Mustangs have a team earned-run average of 1.44 while the defense has committed just one error in Shelby. And when it’s needed one, Post 15 has come up with the big hit. Micah Brown is batting .464 and has scored a team-high 10 runs, while Bryce Rogan is hitting .364 and tops on the team in RBIs.

Medford’s Steen Frederickson, who scored the winning run against Hawaii on Day 3, said his team isn’t taking its 3-0 ALWS record for granted. “We have all the confidence in the world, but … it’s a whole new setting,” he said. “It’s a semifinal game. (Chapin-Newberry deserves) to be here, we deserve to be here.”

Post 193 won two pool play games in the late innings when Peyton Spangler drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to win on Day 2, and Landon Allison followed Kevin Burton’s three-run double with a run-scoring single for the game-winning score in the eighth inning on Day 3.

Post 193 also has gotten excellent pitching from its bullpen. Corey Stone, Josh Haney and Patrick Yoder combined for 6.2 innings of two-run ball in the comeback win against Connecticut on Day 4. Yoder hasn’t allowed a run since the regional round started, posting two saves and striking out four in 3.2 innings during that span.

“(Yoder) is ice water,” Post 193 Coach Daniel Gregory said. “His nickname is ‘Patty Ice.’ He did what he always does: That’s throw strikes and get outs.”

New Orleans Retif Oil (34-7) vs. Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72 (46-6), 7 p.m. Statistics don’t lie when telling the story of Retif Oil’s success at the ALWS this year. In three games, the team has a 1.33 ERA and ranks first with Medford in fielding percentage (.991).

That the team is batting just .260 overall, sixth overall in Shelby, has mattered little. When it’s mattered most, Retif has delivered at the plate. Right fielder Benjamin Hess – who has made standout defensive play after play – is hitting .429 in Shelby and has driven home three runs.

Brooklawn had to overcome a Day 1 loss and then a 2-0 deficit to Hawaii on Day 4 to advance to the semifinals. But they’ve done so because of a pitching staff with an ERA of 1.52, solid defense and five batters hitting .348 or higher.

“The hard parts over now – the hard part of getting into those final two days,” said Brooklawn leadoff hitter Francis Kinsey, who is batting .361 with a team-high 10 runs scored. “Now we know we’re two games away from winning the World Series, and we’re going to use our experience and our talent to hopefully do that.”