Darlington sweeps Camden in opening round of junior legion baseball playoffs

A Camden Post 17 player goes all out to get a Darlington Post 13 player out at first base.
Photo by Drake Horton

By Drake Horton, Contributing Writer

After battling its way to an 8-7 win over Camden Post 17 on the road this past Thursday, Darlington Post 13 needed one more win to take the best two out of three series and do something it has not done in at least six years: advance past the first round of the junior legion baseball playoffs.

Post 13 got that chance the next night in front of a home crowd and it delivered, rallying from being down 1-0 after three innings to scoring eight unanswered runs between the fourth and sixth innings, resulting in an 8-1 win over Post 17 on Friday.

“This is the first time in about six years that we have got out of the first round,” Darlington head coach Dennis Gearhart said. “We’re happy, but certainly not satisfied.”

Southpaw Gage Weatherford got the start for Darlington in the series-clinching game and, as expected, delivered, giving up only one run while throwing six and 2/3 innings before having to be pulled right before the last out due to the pitch count limit.

“Gage was pretty lights out tonight,” Gearhart said.

It was not a peaches and cream start for Weatherford, however, despite the impressive stat line he had after the game.

Camden loaded the bases in the first with two outs and again loaded the bases in the second with no outs, but was unable to cause any serious damage as Weatherford gave up just one hit during those potentially volatile situations, a RBI single in the second.

“The defense was behind me again,” Weatherford said. “They made some really good plays to get us out of some of the innings. It just gives you confidence and helps you throw strikes.”

That was the last bit of life Camden’s offense had for the rest of the game as Weatherford dominated from the third inning on, never getting in trouble again with Post 17’s offense.

And while it took two innings before Weatherford was finally comfortable on the mound, it took over three innings before Darlington’s offense finally got into a rhythm.
With a crafty, little right-hander on the mound for Post 17, Camden was able to keep the Darlington hitters off balance for the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters in order.

In the fourth, however, Cameron Galloway finally made it on base due to a throwing error from Camden’s shortstop and from there it was as if all the pieces began falling into place.

“We came out a little slow offensively, no-hit through three, but we talked about making an adjustment at the plate, change our approach up a little bit,” Gearhart said.

With Galloway on second following the error, the next two Darlington batters walked loading the bases and third baseman Quay Gandy made Post 17 pay, blasting a two-RBI double off of the left-center field wall. Two batters later, catcher Trae Buck pushed Darlington’s third run of the inning across off of a fielder’s choice.

Darlington added an insurance run in the fifth with Weatherford helping his own cause, singling to left field on the first pitch resulting in Keshawn Taylor scoring.
Post 17 put the nail in the coffin in the bottom of sixth scoring four more runs with Ace James blasting a two-RBI double, Jalin Mullins slapping a RBI single into right field and scoring on a wild pitch to push Darlington up 8-1.

Darlington now goes on to play South Florence Blue, who it lost to twice in the regular season. If Post 17 is able to win two out of three in this series it will advance to the state championship tournament.

Pitcher Gage Weatherford threw nearly seven innings for Darlington Post 13 before hanging it up because of the pitch count limit.
Photo by Drake Horton

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