By Thomas Grant Jr.
West Columbia and Chapin-Newberry lost by the same 6-5 score Wednesday night in S.C. American Legion baseball playoffs.
In the case of Chapin-Newberry, the defeat to Greenwood Post 20 in the Upstate Region marked the end of its season. Post 193/24 trailed 6-2 when it scored three runs in the top of the seventh with one out.
Greenwood pitcher Caden Poore got Vincent Santostefano, who went 3-5 with 2 RBI, to ground out and struck out Blair Moore for the final out. Post 20 will now face Richland Post 215 Thursday in an elimination game.
West Columbia will also look to advance Thursday from the loser’s bracket in the Midlands bracket at Brookland-Cayce High School against a familiar foe in Lexington Post 7. Post 79 trailed 5-1 at one point before scoring three runs in the top fifth inning on a 2-run single by Peyton Starkey and RBI single by John Paul Forrester.
After Camden made it 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth, Ethan Smith drew an RBI walk to bring West Columbia to within a run in the top of the sixth.
A double play ended the inning for West Columbia, and it was retired in order in the seventh to end the game.
Lexington advanced in the Midlands Region after an 8-6 win over Easley. In avenging a 6-5 walk-off loss two nights earlier, Lexington scored four runs in both the second and fifth innings and held off a late rally in the seventh inning.
Wyatt McPherson went 2-4 with 2 RBI, Weston Grant was 3-4 with an RBI, Patrick Evans was 2-4 with an RBI and Nathan Reynolds was 1-2 with an RBI.
The winner travels to Camden Friday needing to win twice to advance to the state tournament in Florence.
