Darlington runs out of gas late and falls to Cheraw
A confusing strike zone made for tough work for Darlington’s pitching team. Photo by Drake Horton
By Drake Horton, Contributing Writer
It seemed like the longest game in junior legion baseball history. Technically it was three hours and 10 minutes.
Regardless of the length, however, the result was still painful as Darlington Post 13 lost 15-9 to Cheraw this past Thursday at home.
“It’s one of those games where you have to fight through the adversity and learn how to get better,” Darlington head coach Dennis Gearhart said.
From confusing strike zones, untimely errors and clutch hitting, this game was a back and forth contest that had a little bit of everything in it from a baseball standpoint.
The game had an uneasy start as Cheraw opened up by scoring three runs in the top of the first off of Darlington starting pitcher Nick Perry.
The feeling quickly went away however, as Post 13 scored five runs in the bottom of the first to answer Cheraw’s three and then added another two in the bottom of the second inning.
After getting the first batter to fly out, Darlington’s Ace James reached on an error and that was followed up by four consecutive walks and three consecutive singles giving Post 13 a 5-3 lead.
“I think both teams were at a big disadvantage pitching wise tonight,” Gearhart said. “I think we were forced to throw the ball down the middle a little bit and at the high school baseball level if you see a pitch down the middle you are going to hit it and that is what I think you saw a lot of early in the game.”
Darlington extended that lead in the second inning as James scored on a wild pitch and first baseman Tanner Vause singled in a run.
Post 13’s 7-3 lead was short lived, however, as Cheraw put up a five spot of its own in the top of the third inning. It extended its lead to 9-7 in the fourth inning as one more run came across to score.
The six unanswered runs did not deter Darlington, though. Down by two in the bottom of the fourth inning, Post 13 tied the game back up with Vause scoring on wild pitch and Garrett Knight on an error by Cheraw’s shortstop.
Cheraw answered those two runs, however, in the top of the fifth inning with five more of its own. It added an insurance run in the seventh.
Darlington went scoreless in the final three innings of play while leaving five runners on base, including the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“We left too many guys on base,” Gearhart said.
Recap
In a game that was originally supposed to be play in McBee, Post 13 instead got to play another home game and won 7-5 this past Friday.
Darlington’s current record is 2-2 overall, 2-2 in the region.