ALWS Game 7: South Carolina edges Iowa

Florence (S.C.) Post 1 found itself in a familiar position in Saturday’s American Legion World Series Game 7 against Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Post 671 at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.

Even though Post 1 had won all five games it played in the Southeast Regional in Asheboro, N.C., it trailed in the first four games.

After taking a 3-0 win over Lincoln (Neb.) Post 3 in their Thursday ALWS opener, Florence trailed 4-3 after five innings before rallying for a 5-4 win that gives Post 1 strong positioning to advance to Monday’s semifinals.

“It kind of goes back to the regionals,” Florence coach Derek Urquhart said. “Our first four wins in the regionals were comebacks. So our mentality is to keep everything in perspective and not freak out if we start losing halfway through the game.”

In Saturday’s win, Florence’s winning rally came in the top of the sixth when Post 1 used two walks, two hit batters, Nick Foster’s RBI single and Brody Cook’s sacrifice fly to manufacture the tying and winning runs.

It helped Florence overcome some early missed opportunities as Post 1 left two runners on base in the first, second and third innings and finished with 12 runners left on base overall.

“I was a little nervous that we didn’t get those runs home in the early innings that we could have,” Urquhart said. “We executed a sacrifice bunt early in the game and didn’t get any runs in after it.”

Foster, Cook and Zach Hunt had two hits apiece to lead Florence’s nine-hit offense with Cooks driving in a team-high two runs.

Starter Tanner Hall went 2 2/3 innings before reliever Dylan Wiegel went 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the win and reliever Zane Davis retired all five batters he faced (three by strikeout) for the save.

Florence plays again on Sunday at 7 p.m. in the final pool play game of the ALWS when it meets Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72.

Meanwhile, Cedar Rapids fell to 0-2 in pool play after a game in which Post 671 also missed scoring opportunities and had seven runners left on base overall including leaving the bases loaded in the second and third innings.

“We had a couple of opportunities with the right guys up,” Cedar Rapids coach Andy Volz said. “But it was just one of those days. We didn’t get that big hit when we needed it and we made a couple of defensive mistakes that we don’t normally make and it cost us.

“In a 5-4 game, the margin of error is really thin.”

Spencer Wood (2 hits), Michael Day (1 hit, 2 RBIs) and Andrew Robinson (RBI single) led Cedar Rapids’ five-hit offense.

Cedar Rapids ends its pool play schedule with a Sunday 4 p.m. game against Lincoln, Neb.