After pounding the host Fredericksburg Post 55 Eagles Friday morning 17-3, Mechanicsville Post 175 earned a rematch with the team they lost to earlier, way earlier in the calendar day: Albemarle Post 74.
And, after falling behind early 6-2, Post 175 scored five runs in the fifth to take an 8-6 lead. They carried an 8-7 lead into the ninth, ready to force a winner-take-all game on Saturday.
Then the wheels fell off. Again.
Two errors, two wild pitches, a passed ball and a catcher's obstruction call equaled doom for Mechanicsville, as the defending Legion state champions rolled to eight runs in the inning. Shellshocked Post 175 went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth, seeing their season end in very disappointing fashion, 15-8.
Mechanicsville ends a very, very good season at 21-4, but will spend time now as the team goes its separate ways to colleges and their respective county high schools wondering what went wrong and why, when they needed it the most, defense and pitching fell apart.
Justin Bishop placed Mechanicsville in the position to win with six and a third innings of strong relief. But Cody Thompson struggled in the ninth, replaced by Stephen Hurd who allowed a wild pitch and passed ball in a brief appearance.
The team will lose several key players as their eligibility in American Legion baseball runs out, including Thompson, Haiden Lamb, Josh Lam, Andrew Sergent, and Josh Shepherd.
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