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Post 2 falls one game short in quest to qualify for state tournament
When Clay County Post 2 left Terre Haute North’s Don Jenning Field after falling to Terre Haute Post 346 in the opening round of the American Legion Regional Tournament Friday night, they expected to be taking on Indianapolis Post 276 when they returned Saturday afternoon.
But upon walking through the gates, Post 2 manager Nathan Stoelting was informed that Indianapolis Post 276 had forfeited the consolation bracket quarterfinal and had withdrawn from the tournament altogether.
In theory, that was a plus for Clay County as it gave the team a postseason win and put them on the doorstep of qualifying for next weekend’s state tournament, which will also be held at Terre Haute North. However, Stoelting and assistant coach Andrew Kreiger had planned to play two games on Saturday, and with that in mind, the pair had informed two of their pitching-only players – Braiden Moore and Trey Eldridge – to get to the field later in the day.
The change in the schedule threw a wrench into those plans and summed up what Stoelting said was a ‘tough weekend’ for Post 2 as it saw the season come to a close with a 7-1 loss to West Terre Haute Post 501.
“The biggest difference in the game was that West Terre Haute had some big hits in the second when we thought we were going to get out of it. They did damage and came up with the clutch hits,” said Stoelting. “They got the clutch hits, and we didn’t. That’s a big reason the outcome was what it was.”
Clay County surrendered one unearned run in the first inning but with plenty of game left to go, were undeterred about being in a small hole. That changed in the second, though, when West Terre Haute plated five runs – four of which came with two outs – to widen the margin to a place that made it much harder to come back from, especially with the way Post 501 starting pitcher Colton Enyeart, who threw a complete game, was locating all of his pitches.
“Mason Camp, he threw the ball well. I think they charged him with five earned runs, but I think it was closer to three with the errors that we made. It doesn’t really matter, but, and I’m not making excuses, but this weekend, we had a kid that typically plays catcher playing second base and an outfielder playing third base. That’s tough to do,” said Stoelting. “I was still proud of the boys because we loaded the bases in the fifth and then had two on in the sixth and had Logan [Stoelting] and Wyatt [Johnson] up. I’ll take those two up in those spots any day, but today, they didn’t come through.”
Post 2 got on the scoreboard in the third on Trey Dayhoff’s RBI double to left-center field and had a couple of chances later in the game – leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and a pair of runners on in the sixth – but were unable to make a dent in the deficit, bringing their season to an end.
West Terre Haute Post 501 advanced onto Saturday’s regional tournament championship against Terre Haute Post 346, which defeated West Terre Haute by a score of 1-0 in the first of Saturday's pair of games. By reaching the title tilt, both West Terre Haute and Terre Haute qualify for next weekend’s state tournament.
WEST TERRE HAUTE POST 501 (AB-R-H-RBI) – Porter rf 4-0-1-0, Noblitt ss 3-0-1-0, Dailey cf 3-2-1-1, Wilbur c 3-1-0-0, Rogers 1b 3-0-1-2, Enyeart p 3-1-1-1, Hedden 3b 2-1-1-0, Powers 2b 4-1-0-0. TOTALS 28-7-7-5.
CLAY COUNTY POST 2 (AB-R-H-RBI) – Johnson c 3-1-1-0, T.Dayhoff 1b 3-0-1-1, Bradbury ss 3-0-1-0, Kreiger 3b-lf 3-0-0-0, Stoelting cf 3-0-0-0, McMains 2b 3-0-2-0, Camp p-3b 3-0-1-0, Cooper lf-rf 3-0-1-0, N.Dayhoff rf 1-0-0-0, Moore p 1-0-0-0. TOTALS 26-1-7-1.
W.Terre Haute 150 010 0 – 7
Clay County 001 000 0 – 1
2B – T.Dayhoff. SB – Dailey, Noblitt, Powers. CS – T.Dayhoff. PO – Johnson.
Pitching
West Terre Haute IP H R ER BB SO
Enyeart (W) 7 7 1 1 2 5
Clay County IP H R ER BB SO
Camp (L) 3 6 6 5 1 3
Moore 4 1 1 1 2
Next – Clay County (11-8) concluded its season. West Terre Haute (9-12-1) advanced onto Saturday’s regional championship.