For Troy (Ala.) Post 70, a comeback and a 2nd ALWS title in 3 years
The comeback kings did it again.
Two years after rallying to win three straight games for its first American Legion World Series championship, Troy (Ala.) Post 70 was at it again on Tuesday night at Veterans Field at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
Post 70 won 5-3 over Midland (Mich.) with two runs to tie the score in the top of the sixth inning and three to take the lead in the seventh.
“I think one of the best characteristics a team can have is toughness,” said Troy coach Ross Hixon, whose team finished 34-6. “We try to instill that here mainly because of games like here and games like the (Southeast) regional (championship game).
“If you’re not mentally tough, you don’t win those kind of games.”
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On the final day of the regional played at Asheboro, N.C., on Aug. 11, Troy didn’t lead in two games against Wayne County (N.C.) Post 11 before winning on the final pitch to avoid losing twice on the final day.
Then in the ALWS, Troy won its opener but lost a marathon 14-inning game to Fargo (N.D.) Post 2 that ended early Saturday morning. The defeat left Post 70 needing to win three straight games if it wanted to win Alabama’s third title in ALWS history; Tuscaloosa won the state’s first championship in 1967.
“We don’t flinch,” said Hixon, whose team shut out defending champion League City (Tex.) Post 554 8-0 on Sunday to advance to the semifinals and shut out Wilmington Delvets (Del.) Post 1 4-0 in Monday’s semifinal. “This is a tough, tough group.”
Midland, which was making its 12th ALWS appearance all time and ninth in Shelby, had advanced as far as the semifinals in Shelby three times previously, finishing as 2014 runner-up and losing in the semifinals in 2018 and 2022 to tie for third place.
Post 165 appeared on its way to its second title — Midland won its first in 2009 — as 6-foot-6, 230-pound right-hander Chad Brown had limited Troy to three hits in five innings and his teammates had staked him to a 2-0 lead.
But after a fielding error and base hit put the tying runs on base, Brown was replaced after five innings with two strikeouts and 71 pitches.
Troy’s rally continued as a stolen base put runners on second and third with none out. Cody Walsh’s sacrifice fly drove in one run and Haze McCorkel’s two-out single drove in Gunner Justice for a 2-all tie.
In the seventh inning, Midland appeared to work itself into and out of trouble as Troy scored three runs that proved decisive.
A Matt Snell single to centerfield, a Caden Collier hit by pitch and an Evan Taylor bunt single loaded the bases with none out. But Midland reliever Cayden Smith coaxed back-to-back pop ups that were too shallow to advance the runners before tragedy struck Post 165 on an infield throwing error that allowed two runs to score. Blake Wynn’s infield hit accounted for the third run.
In the bottom of the seventh, reliever and winner Aiden Wright yielded a one-out home run to Midland’s Nathan Ball but retired five of the six batters he faced in a 1 2/3-inning effort.
“You can’t give them six outs in one inning,” said Midland coach Dan Cronkright, whose team finished 4-1 in the ALWS and 31-7 overall. “That’s what we did.
“I’m still very proud of my team. They did a nice job. And we had chances tonight. We just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”
For Troy, which rallied from behind to win its last three games in its 2022 ALWS title run, the ending felt surreal.
“I’m sitting there thinking that I’d been here before,” said Hixon, whose team trailed 5-0 after two innings and was down to its final out in the top of the seventh before rallying for a 6-5 victory over Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 in the 2022 title game that gave it three straight come-from-behind wins that year.
McCorkel (3 hits, 1 RBI) and Evan Taylor (2 hits) led Troy’s eight-hit offense. And Richardson (2 hits, double, 1 RBI) and Ball (2 hits, home run, 1 RBI) led Midland’s seven-hit offense.
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