Closest ALWS ever down to final game
In a fitting close to the tournament, two teams who appeared Monday night (7:30 p.m., ESPNU) will take to Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C., to determine The American Legion World Series champion.
Chapin-Newberry (S.C.) Post 193 rallied from a 3-1 eighth-inning deficit to knock off Medford, Ore., Post 15 4-3 in one semifinal. In the other, Retif Oil of New Orleans came back from a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of the 10th to stun two-time defending champ Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72 by the same score.
The two one-run games were the 10th and 11th of the World Series, smashing the previous record of eight set 34 years ago.
“It says a great deal about the quality of teams that are here, the competitive nature of these teams, the desire to compete for something that is very significant,” Retif Oil Manager Joseph Latino said of this year’s tournament. “We’re one of two teams left, and we couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Latino is expecting another close game tonight. “We know they’re a very good team, and we expect their very best,” he said. “Hopefully we can give them our very best, and hopefully it’s another great game.”
The two teams played Saturday, with Retif pulling out a 5-2 win. Chapin-Newberry took a one-run lead in the top of the first inning, but Retif scored twice in each of the next two innings and held the lead the rest of the way.
“Louisiana has played three close games, and one of them was against us,” Post 193 Coach Daniel Gregory said. “We feel like had things gone differently early, maybe things would have been different. But that’s a good baseball team. They hit the ball well. They make all the plays.”
Both teams play strong defense: Post 193 is fielding at a .980 percentage in Shelby, while New Orleans is at .970. New Orleans is top in the field in team earned-run average (0.97), while Chapin-Newberry’s bullpen has allowed just two earned runs in 12.2 innings of work over the past three games.
At the plate, New Orleans has been led all tournament by right fielder Ben Hess, who is batting .488 with eight runs batted in and 10 runs scored since the regional. Three other players are hitting .306 or higher, including catcher Trent Forshag (.306), who leads the team with 11 RBIs.
Forshag isn’t putting too much into the previous win against Post 193. “It’s always difficult to beat a team twice,” he said. “We know they’re going to come out and play hard. It’s the championship game. We’re the last two Legion teams left.”
For Chapin-Newberry, shortstop Justin Hawkins has come alive the past two games. After hitting two home runs in the regional, he hadn’t hit any in Shelby until the past two games, when late-game shots ignited rallies against Connecticut and Medford.
“That’s two nights in a row that Justin Hawkins has hit a home run to wake everybody up,” Gregory said. “(The other players) are like, ‘Wow, well Justin’s not done yet, and we shouldn’t be done yet either.’”
Hawkins, batting .394 with 10 RBIs, wasn’t worried about not getting out of the gate quickly in Shelby. “Hitting the way I hit it in the regional and then coming out here and hitting (the ball) right at everybody, there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said. “That’s just baseball. But to hit (Sunday and Monday’s) home runs, it felt good.”
Kevis Burton is hitting .382 with seven RBIs for Post 193, while leadoff hitter Danton Hyman (.297) has scored nine runs and drove home the winning run Monday with a bunt single.
That kind of never-say-die attitude is shared by everyone on Post 193, Hawkins said. “It doesn’t matter how deep we are in the hole,” he said. “The ball game is not over with until the last out is made in the ninth. Everybody in that dugout, that’s what’s in their head. That’s what we go off of.”
Retif Oil shares that attitude.
“What happened (Monday) is the epitome of what our season’s been so far,” Forshag said. “In (the state tournament), kind of the same thing happened. In the last inning we kind of came through and won. I can’t explain it. There’s something about it.”