Friday, October 2, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - The semifinals are here. Fans have already been treated to three days of exciting baseball, and more is yet to come. Today’s schedule was tweaked due to an American Legion Baseball tournament rule that stipulates opponents will not face each other twice before the final round. This has set the stage for two great matchups. After tonight’s last contest, the teams will be locked in for tomorrow’s final round.
Day 4 - Game 12 - One Goes Home
Game one featured Wilson Post 13 and South Caldwell in a true elimination game. Both teams entered with 2-1 tournament records. The winner would advance to the finals, and the other would see their season end. Starting South Caldwell pitcher Abram Lefler wasted no time on the mound to begin the game. He used only 12 pitches to retire the first three Wilson Post 13 batters. Lefler’s teammates helped his cause in their turn at bat by turning things up on offense. Lead off batter, Chase Cardwell, grounded out to shortstop, then Koda Beard walked, followed by Nathan Hall being hit by a pitch. Beard scored when Jacob Perkins reached on an error by second baseman, Mattox McKeel. Perkins steals second, and the ensuing wild pitch brings home Hall. Michael Craig goes down on strikes. Another wild pitch sees South Caldwell go ahead 3-0 after Perkins crosses the plate. Cooper Dotson’s groundout ends the inning. Zac Long is hit by a pitch in the top of the third with one out. Josiah Taverez is issued a walk, and Davis Turner singles to right field to load the bases. Long scores as Mattox McKeel hits into a fielder’s choice. Wilson is trailing 3-1 with two outs when McKeel steals second base. Andrew Rine hits a two-run shot to left field that ties the game 3-3. A wild pitch sends Rine to second, Colson Gray walks, before Tanner Pierce grounds into an inning-ending out three. Koda Beard leads off the bottom of the third with a base hit. Tanner Pierce hits Nathan Hall with a pitch, and Jacob Perkins’ line drive plates Beard. After Perkins steals second, two runners are in scoring position. Tanner Pierce then sets Michael Craig down on strikes. Dotson hits a sacrifice fly that scores Hall; however, when Perkins attempts to take third base on the throw in, he is tagged out. South Caldwell is back in the lead 5-3. The top of the fifth begins with Abram Lefler hitting Mattox McKeel with a pitch. Andrew Rine flies into a fielder’s choice, and Colson Gray flies out. A two-out single from Tanner Pierce is followed by a base hit from Connor McIntosh that scores Rine. Greyson Croker works a full count walk that loads the bases with two outs. A gusty call has Pierce stealing home, and he is safe! That ties the game at 5-5. Abram Lefler reaches his pitch count and is relieved by Michael Craig. Zac Long is hit by a pitch that reloads the bases with two outs. Three base runners are left stranded when Michael Craig strikes out Josiah Taverez. South Caldwell wastes no time breaking the tie during their turn at bat. Chase Cardwell walks, Koda Beard singles, and both runners execute a double steal. They retake the lead when Cardwell scores on Nathan Hall’s double. Koda Beard scores on a sacrifice fly from Jacob Perkins. After Hall goes to third on a wild pitch, Craig walks. Runners are on first and third with one out. Hall comes home when Cooper Dotson singles to left field. Greyson Croker comes in to pitch in relief of Tanner Pierce. The first batter he faces, Brayden Auton, flies out to centerfield. Craig and Dotson advance on a wild pitch, and then both score as Dawson Hamby reaches on an error. Graham Heavner grounds out to shortstop to end the inning that sees South Caldwell jump out ahead 10-5. Post 13 would not roll over; they put two runners on as Turner and McKeel reached on back-to-back walks. Brayden Auton comes in relief for pitcher Michael Craig. He walks Rine to load the bases with no outs. Colson Gay sacrifices to score Davis Turner, Tanner Pierce grounds out to the pitcher, and Connor McIntosh reaches on an error that scores McKeel and Rine.
Wilson Post 13 has made this back into a ball game, trailing 10-8. They look poised to take the lead after a pitch hits Croker, Auton is called for a balk, and then hits Zac Long with a pitch. Trent Jones replaces Josiah Taverez. He comes to the plate with bases loaded and two outs. Auton works his way out of the jam as he pops up Jones, with Wilson once again leaving the bases loaded. South Caldwell says okay, our turn. After one out in the inning, Koda Beard knocks his third hit of the day on a double to left field. Nathan Hall strikes out looking. Jacob Perkins reaches on a single. A misplayed ground ball allows Michael Craig to reach base, scoring Beard and Perkins. A wild pitch and Craig advances to second. A pitch hits Cooper Dotson, and Auton is walked to load the bases with two outs. South Caldwell is leading 12-8. Trent Jones comes in the game to pitch; Dawson Hamby pops out to second. Wilson made a valiant effort as they tried to mount a comeback in the seventh. The bases were once again loaded with two outs for the third time today, and once again, they could not take advantage. South Caldwell advances to Wednesday’s final round with a 12-8 victory over a feisty Wilson Post 13. South Caldwell will play at 4 pm on Wednesday.
Wilson had 8 runs off 6 hits and made 3 errors. Their leading hitter was Andrew Rine with 2 hits, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBIs. Post 13 had a great showing during the tournament, although the timely hits just didn’t come today. South Caldwell Post 29 scored 12 runs off 7 hits and committed 1 error. The leading hitters were Koda Beard, who scored 3 hits and 4 runs. Jacob Perkins had 2 hits, 2 runs scored, and 2 RBIs, and Nathan Hall had 1 hit, 3 runs scored, and 1 RBI. Congratulations to South Caldwell Post 29 on advancing to the final round.
Day 4 - Game 13 - Cherryville Rolls
The closing game for the night features two run-scoring machines in the form of Cherryville Post 100 and Matthews Post 235. This has been a highly anticipated matchup. A good crowd was on hand to watch it unfold. Would it be the expected high-scoring game or a pitcher’s duel? A slight drizzle early on cooled things off a little to make for a nice night of baseball. Although the game was in Cherryville, Post 100 was the designated visitors due to Matthews having a better tournament record. Cherryville opened the top of the first inning with Kenan Fowler singling to right field. Blake Mitchell follows it up with a single, and an error on the throw gives Fowler, who was flying around the bases, enough time to score.
Cherryville took the first lead 1-0. Davin Digh launches a rocket to second base; Christian Gegg makes an incredible diving catch and throws out Mitchell as he retreats to first base. South Paw, Coleman Schafer started on the mound for Cherryville. He came out pitching lights out. Logan Rine got a base hit off him, but nothing else resulted for Matthews. It appeared after two complete innings that we would be in for a low-scoring pitcher’s duel. It looked like Cherryville might blow the game wide open in the third. Coleman Schafer took a four-pitch walk, Curtis Kester entered as a courtesy runner, Kenan Fowler was issued a four-pitch walk, pitcher Carter Freeman approached 30 pitches when Drew Knowles replaced him. A player who throws 30 or fewer pitches is allowed to return the next game. Blake Mitchell was hit in the back by a pitch, and now the bases were loaded and only one out. Drew Knowles fights out of the inning as Post 100 strands three runners on base. Gio Camerota hits a standup double, then David Long beats out a throw on a bunt for a single. Suddenly, it appears momentum has swung in favor of Matthews. Ben Baldauf sends a ball to right field that ties the game at 1-1 as Camerota touches the plate. Logan Rine strikes out, Drew Knowles lines back to Schafer, and with a heads-up play, he throws out the lead runner advancing to third. Ryan Semm then goes down swinging. Davin Digh makes a great backhanded stop at third and throws a bullet to get Tim Henderson out at first, in the bottom of the fourth. Through four innings, Schafer was throwing smoke, giving up 1 run off 3 hits, issuing no walks, and striking out 5. His pitch count remained low, which gave hope that he would be able to throw a complete game. The fifth begins with Chandler Wooten being hit by a pitch. Drew Knowles reached 30 pitches and was relieved by Sam Yin. A five-day tournament requires creative rotations with the pitchers to ensure enough are available for the final round. Wooten steals second, then steals third. Blake Mitchell sends a missile to centerfield that scores Wooten. Digh hits a hard grounder to third that just gets under his glove, the error lands Davin on first base. A wild pitch advances both runners, a 5 pitch walk to Mincey has the bases loaded with one out, and eager runners wanting to score. Canon Whitesides’ sacrifice fly scores Mitchell. Bryson Withers fouls to left field, which is caught for out three; however, Cherryville has retaken the lead at 3-1.
After five complete innings, Schafer has thrown 3 clean innings, which means he has gotten out the first three batters he faced in each of those frames. After Karter Willis singles, Coleman Schafer sacrifices him to second. Chandler Wooten connects on a fast ball that he one-hops off the centerfield wall. Fowler sends a line shot to left, and the second baseman drops the throw from shortstop. Drew Knowles scores Wooten. The Buck is beginning to rock, not from the sounds of the late Ozzy Osbourne playing over the p.a. system. It is from the fans seeing their hometown team come to life. Fans are beginning to sense Cherryville getting hot offensively. Logan Rine is brought in from the dugout to take his spot on the mound. Mitchell sacrifices Fowler to third, then Rine gets Digh to pop up, ending the threat. Post 100 has begun to pull away with a 5-1 lead. As the final inning begins, Mincey is called out on what some thought was a questionable third strike. The umpire is always right, so it is a moot point. The umpires in the stands all thought it was a ball; however, only the one behind the plate counts. Canon Whitesides hits a one-out double by a diving Jack Martin that rolls to the wall. Withers’ RBI single scores courtesy runner, Bryson Lamacchia. Willis flies out, Withers steals second, a pitch hits Gracen Walker, Wooten then rips a standup two-run triple over the head of Henderson in centerfield. The inning is over when Fowler pops up to the pitcher, but not before Cherryville captures an 8-1 lead. Matthews is unable to produce any runs in the bottom of the inning, and the game is over. It began as a pitching duel that turned into more of a defensive display that still had plenty of great defense and pitching. Neither a player nor a fan can ask for much more.
Matthews scored 1 run, off 6 hits, and made 3 errors. Logan Rine had 2 hits, and Ben Baldauf had 1 hit and 1 RBI. For Cherryville, they scored 8 runs off 10 hits and played error-free defense. The leading hitters were Chadler Wooten with 2 hits, 2 runs scored, 2 RBIs, and he also stole 2 bases. Kenan Fowler had 2 hits, scored 1 run, and 1 RBI. Blake Mitchell had 2 hits, scored 1 run, and had 1 RBI. Karter Willis had 2 hits and scored 1 run. On the mound, winning pitcher Coleman Schafer threw a complete 7-inning game, striking out 7 batters, giving up 6 hits, while allowing only 1 run and issuing no base on balls. Cherryville Post 100 improved its season record to 25-2.
Wednesday’s final round is set. Three teams remain with 3-1 records. Matthews drew a bye to the Championship game by not losing until the semifinal round. The first game is on Wednesday at 4 pm between Cherryville and South Caldwell. The winner of that game will play at 7 pm against Matthews for the State Championship. Come out and support your hometown Cherryville Post 100 Junior team. The remaining games should prove very exciting and entertaining.
Want to see the full photo gallery for the Junior Legion Tournament? Click here!
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