Friday night at Linda K. Epling Stadium the task for Beckley Post 32 Top Prospects was clear.
Win one game of the doubleheader with Winfield Post 187 and Post 32 would clinch the No. 1 seed in the upcoming American Legion Area 3 Tournament being played at St. Albans High School.
Riding a 17-hit attack, Post 32 took care of business with ease in the opening game with a 15-5 win.
“It is a great thing to be the one-seed because it means we will be the home team the whole time. You want to be in the driver’s seat and have that last at-bat if you need to,” Post 32 head coach Jordan Meadows said. “Home team is always great and you also see the No. 4 seed instead of the three-seed.”
Post 32 exploded out of the gate and took command in the home half of the first inning.
Brayden Kiblinger was plunked on the elbow after Jake Meadows started the at-bat with a single. Adam Richmond cracked open the dam with an RBI-single and the runs commenced to flow.
Blake Stratton followed with a single moving Kiblinger to third before a throwing error allowed his former Independence teammate to score with both runners moving up a base.
Grayson Kesterson expanded the lead to 3-0 when he singled to left field scoring Richmond.
“We had to win one today to lock it up. We didn’t want to go to a tie-breaker (with South Charleston Post 94) for the No. 1 seed,” Meadows said. “They just came out and hit it all over the place. They did what we needed to do to get that little cushion.”
The red-hot start for Beckley continued on a nice inside-out swing by Gavin Bennett that sent a rocket to the wall in the right-center gap for bases clearing triple.
Peyton DeHaven added to the onslaught with an RBI-single prior to Meadows making it 7-0 game with a run-scoring double in his second visit to the plate.
Before Winfield could escape the damage, Beckley held a 9-0 lead, but explosive innings have been nothing new for Beckley Post 32 this year.
“It has been fun all year and super exciting to coach,” Meadows said. “I have access to some stats on GameChanger that you all don’t see and we lead the state in runs scored by probably 50 or 60. It has been insane.”
The Putnam County boys found some positive vibes when they put four runs on the board in the top of the third. The big blow for the visitors came on a two-run triple from Jackson Curry.
Unfortunately for Winfield, Beckley immediately matched the output in the bottom of the frame.
Cole Brown’s base-hit sent Kiblinger home who had singled ahead of him with one out. Brown came around to score after a pair of wild pitches for an 11-4 lead.
Kesterson capped the inning with a single to score Richmond who reached on a walk. When the ball eluded the right fielder, Kesterson came all the way around to score as well.
Winfield added one in the fourth thanks to an error by Post 32, but it was only postponing the inevitable.
Meadows tripled for his third hit of the game to open the sixth and scored on Kiblinger’s third single of the day.
After Kiblinger moved to second, Richmond called ball game with a double in the left-center gap for the 15-5 win.
Post 32 completed the sweep with a 2-1 win in the nightcap. Brady Scott roped a one-out single, scoring Kesterson for another walk-off win.
The Area 3 Tournament starts Thursday and is a double-elimination format. The opponent for Beckley is still to be determined, but it will either be Winfield or Charleston Post 65.
Game time will be 5:30 p.m. for Beckley in game one and the tournament will run through Sunday.
“It will be the main guys that you have seen all year,” Meadows said about his postseason line-up. “It will depend on who we play and who we pitch first, but we are excited to be in this position. Credit to all these guys.”
