The first two Post 58 batters went quietly in the bottom of the ninth and Spencer Bell coaxed a walk to get on runner on base. Collins Cuthrell forced a 2-1 count when Chad Whitehead, the Post 40 hurler, threw a wild pitch that rolled around the backstop area. It was enough to allow Bell to make it all the way to third. Edenton intentionally walked Cuthrell and up stepped Thomas Berry, who drills a ball to right center and the game is history as Post 58 outslugs Post 40 12-11
Edenton got its lead runner on in eight of the nine innings and seemed to threaten every inning. Lost in all the late-inning scoring was that Jeremy Sloop pitched six good innings for Post 58 and left the game leading 11-4 with only two runs earned. Not only did Brandon Denton get Post 58 out of a ninth-inning jam, but he wound up as the winning pitcher.
Post 58 had 17 hits to 16 for Post 40.
Kyle Norville led the hit parade for Post 58 gong 4-for-4. Thomas Berry not only had the winning hit, but two others to boot. Bell, Matthew Berry, Mike Smith and Cameron Ramsey each had two hits. Tyler Clark and Parker Helms had a hit apiece.
Post 58 finishes up it conference play Sunday with a doubleheader at starting at 5 p.m. at Historic Hicks Field in Edenton. All Post 58 needs is one win in the doubleheader to collect the No. 1 seed when the playoffs start on July 5.
Edenton plays Wilson Post 13 Saturday night and then plays 58 Sunday. If 58 loses both games and Edenton beats Wilson Saturday night then a three-way tie for first will occur and don't ask me how we pick the top two teams. First and second place in our division will play the third and fourth seeds, respectively, from the Goldsboro-Kinston-Greenville area at home in the first game of a best of five series. Third place starts on the road at the No. 2 seed from that same area.
Post 58 is 6-1 in conference play and 13-4 overall. Wilson Post 13 is 4-2 and now Edenton is 3-3 setting up the big weekend finish. If we tie Wilson, we own the tiebreaker since we beat its squad two of three.
Life will be made much simpler if we win one game Sunday.
