ALWS Game 14: Alabama punches title game ticket
For the second time in three years, Troy (Ala.) Post 70 will play in the American Legion World Series championship game.
Post 70 recorded its second straight shutout in a 4-0 victory over Wilmington Delvets (Del.) Post 1 in a semifinal delayed by weather Monday night for three hours and 18 minutes.
In a contest that didn’t end until 12:05 a.m. Tuesday morning, Troy (33-6) advanced to face Midland (Mich.) Post 165 in Tuesday’s 7 p.m. final at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
Troy won the 2022 ALWS title, with Midland a 2009 ALWS title-winner in Fargo, N.D.
Troy went through the second long weather delay it has faced in its four games in the eight-team event. In Friday’s game that lasted into Saturday morning, Post 70 lost 5-4 to Fargo (N.D.) Post 2 in 14 innings in a game that was delayed one hour and 58 minutes and didn’t finish until 1:17 a.m.
This time, as in the Friday contest, lightning and then rain forced a long weather delay.
Unlike Friday, when the game was postponed with a 2-all score in the bottom of the seventh inning, this game had barely started.
Lightning was detected with no score and one out in the bottom of the first inning at 7:17 p.m., or only 11 minutes after it had begun.
Heavy rains and considerable field work meant the contest wouldn’t resume until 10:30 p.m.
A pitcher’s duel between Delvets starter Matthew Speicher and Troy starter Brody Lindsey lasted until the fourth inning when Payne Jefcoat’s leadoff solo home run gave Post 70 all it would need.
Troy added three more runs in the sixth as it followed up its 8-0 win on Sunday over defending ALWS champion League City (Tex.) Post 554 with a second straight shutout.
Lindsey needed 99 pitches in his two-hitter with five strikeouts and three walks. He retired the final 10 batters he faced.
Jefcoat (2 hits, home run, 1 RBI) and Evan Taylor (2 hits) led Troy’s six-hit offense.
Ryan Timmons and Jack Rossi had the hits for the Delvets (23-8), who were making their first-ever ALWS appearance.
View this post on Instagram
