By Thomas Grant Jr.
An undermanned Irmo Post 7 Junior team managed just two regular season victories.
Now at full strength, the team is three wins shy of a South Carolina American Legion title.
Irmo Post 7 routed defending champion Lexington Post 7 18-2 in three innings of the deciding game of the Best-of-Three playoff series. It was the fourth post-season win in five games for Irmo Post 7, who now advance to the state tournament starting Saturday at Conway High School.
“We finally just got it all together,” Irmo head coach Bruce White said. “We had a little bit more depth and pitching than they did. They had some guys that ended up leaving today, so they were short-staffed, and we were finally fully staffed. So I felt like we just kind of put it together during this tournament.
“We only won two games during the regular season. But I finally had everybody here during this last run and went through the playoffs 4-1. A good opportunity for us.”
After tying the series Tuesday with a 9-7 victory in Game Two, Irmo jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game Three. The second inning saw Irmo send 16 batters to the plate and jump on Lexington with for 10 runs to extend their lead to 14-2.
Lexington allowed just three hits but gave up seven of the 13 walks it issued during the half-inning. Winning pitcher Candler Morden drew two bases loaded walks in the second inning and finished with three RBI.
A pair of RBI singles by Zack Parker and Tye Rivers and two errors which led to two more runs gave Irmo an 18-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Callum Roberts had an RBI triple and scored off a sacrifice fly by Mason O’Cain to put Lexington on the board.
It was not enough to continue the game under the mercy rule in which a team can claim victory with a 15-run lead after three innings.
As of Wednesday, two playoff spots remain for the 8-team field. Having seen Lexington Post 7 win the tournament last year, White believes his team is built to make a similar run.
“I think we’re going down there with pitching and hitting and most of the time we play defense,” White said. “So, we’re solid through nine and I’m just excited to get the opportunity to get these guys a little more baseball. Most of these guys are Irmo guys. It gets us an opportunity to see what we can make happen.”
