FLORENCE – Fort Mill Post 43 rallied to overcome a deficit to win 10-5 over Camden Post 17 and move on to championship Thursday at Francis Marion University as part of the American Legion Seniors State Tournament.
Post 43 will now have to beat both Florence Post 1 and Camden again to win a state title Thursday, Aug. 1. Post 43 improved to 21-6 on the season and had 15 hits in the game against Camden Wednesday.
Owen Noonan led the game off with a single and Nico Bartolotti walked to put two runners on base in the first inning, but couldn’t get them across.
Camden has been one of the hottest teams since the playoffs started and continued to show why. Post 17 sliced three singles to take a 1-0 lead after one inning.
Fort Mill got one runner on with a single from Jonathan Barschow. He would eventually get thrown out at home for the third out of the inning trying to put Post 43 on the board.
Post 43 starter River Joye settled down in the second inning keeping Camden from scoring despite them getting runners on.
In the top of the third, Bartolotti walked and Zach Jennings singled as Fort Mill threatened, but again left runners stranded.
Camden had back-to-back singles in the third inning with one out. A double scored two more runs for Post 17 to put them up 3-0.
Barschow walked in the fourth inning and then stole second. Anthony Marano walked as well, putting two runners on with two outs for Fort Mill. Noonan singled to load the bases. A pop out would end the inning for Post 43 without them scoring a run.
A two out triple set up another run for Camden in the bottom of the fourth inning, that was scored after a single giving Post 17 four runs.
In the fifth inning. Hunter Busque and Jackson Mullen each singled with two outs to give Fort Mill some hope. Simon Fernandez singled to load the bases before Camden went to their bullpen. Barschow walked scoring Busque for a Post 43 run.
A second consecutive walk to Marano led to Mullen scoring and cutting Camden’s lead in half before another Post 17 pitcher came in. Noonan then doubled in two runs to tie the game at four.
After shutting down Camden in the fifth, Cooper Zohner walked to get a Fort Mill runner on to start things off in the sixth inning.
Jennings singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. An error by Camden scored two runs for Post 43 to give them their first lead of the game. A passed ball put Fort Mill up 7-4. Barschow doubled and Marano drove him in to extend the Post 43 lead doubling up Camden with two innings to go.
Post 17 put runners on the corners with one out and then had a batter hit to load the bases. Camden would score one and then load the bases again with two outs, but Fort Mill would get out of the inning without surrendering another run.
Post 43 started the seventh inning with Zohner getting hit by a pitch and Jennings singling to center. Mullen doubled scoring both runners as Fort Mill again extended their lead to 10-5.
Joye would start the seventh inning and come out after reaching a pitch limit. He would finish going six innings allowing five runs in 10 hits, while walking one and striking out three. Logan Sulli would come in for the final three outs.
Noonan and Jennings each had three hits. Mullen, Noonan and Marano each had two RBIs.
Post 43 plays Florence Thursday at 4 pm to start their day and would play Camden again for a state title if victorious over Florence.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
