ASHEBORO — Randolph County Post 45 couldn’t repeat its recent success in American Legion baseball regional play. The host team for the Mid-Atlantic Regional was bounced after three games last week, unable to navigate the eight-team field and make it back to the American Legion World Series.
The five-day tournament concluded Sunday with Ridge (Md.) Post 255 defeating North Carolina state champion Fuquay-Varina Post 116 by 8-1 to claim the regional championship. That sends Ridge to the American Legion World Series, which begins Thursday in Shelby. Ridge went 5-0 in the regional, defeating Fuquay-Varina twice.
Randolph County (16-8), which captured regional crowns in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the 2020 season was cancelled because of the pandemic, won its first game of this year’s regional before falling twice.
Post 45 opened by defeating Allentown, N.J., by 9-3 behind three RBI from Parker LaPlant. A seven-run fifth inning wiped out a 3-1 deficit. LaPlant and Tanner Marsh both had three hits. Coleman Burris was the winning pitcher.
The next day, Post 45 fell to Ridge (Md.) by 3-0 as it was limited to four singles. Hunter Hill took the loss. Robert Garner pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout relief with seven strikeouts.
Then came elimination with Friday’s 4-2 loss to Chesapeake (Va.) Post 280. Blake Marsh was the losing pitcher. Harris Jackson, who had half of Post 45’s four hits, drove in two runs with a seventh-inning double.
