Sports - June 2003

Cherryville clinches division with 14th straight win

By MIKE POWELL, LTN correspondent

 MARION--Cherryville kept two streaks going with its 11-3 win over McDowell County Thursday night.

One was the team's sixth straight Area Four-Western Division title, and the other was a current win streak that now stands at 14.

Post 100 finished the regular season 16-4 in the division (19-4 overall), one game ahead of Caldwell County (15-5). The run of division titles started in 1998, the same year Cherryville finished as national runner-up.

The win assures Cherryville of one of the top two seeds for the Area Four playoffs, which open Saturday for the unseeded teams. Post 100 draws a first-round bye and awaits the winner of a best-of-three first round series.

The pairings for the area playoffs will be determined this evening in a meeting of Area Four officials at Hickory Post 48.

Cherryville extended its win streak with another strong outing by the pitching staff and one big inning that broke the game open.

Right-hander Steven Justice (5-0) allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out six in seven innings of work. Justice exited with a 9-2 lead, and Jackson Beam and Chris Mason finished up.

Home runs accounted for seven of the 11 Cherryville runs. Two homers came during a seven-run flurry in the sixth, a grand slam by Travis Walls and a two-run shot by Ben Lastra. David Wise also hit his eighth homer of the season in the first inning.

A bases-loaded walk to Brock Alexander broke a 2-2 tie in the pivotal sixth inning, and Cherryville went on to send 10 batters to the plate.

In addition to his grand slam, Walls singled in a run in the fifth and finished the night 2-for-5 with five RBI.

Mason went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored, and Brandon Hurt had two hits and a sacrifice fly.

Three McDowell pitchers combined on nine walks, three wild pitches and a hit batter.

The eighth-inning relief appearance was the first action of the season for Beam, who has been sidelined with accident-related injuries. He gave up two runs on three hits, but settled down after the shaky start and retired the last two batters on groundouts.

Mason came on in the ninth and struck out three straight.

Post 100 notes: Head coach Bobby Reynolds did not accompany the team to Marion. He was in Raleigh serving as a coach in the State Games. Assistant A.J. Henley filled in. ... Second baseman Matt Craig was out of the lineup with a back injury. It is not known how much playing time the West Lincoln product will miss.

C’Ville 100 017 100— 11 10 0

McDowell 200 000 010— 3 10 2

Justice, Beam (8), Mason (9) and D. Wise, Glover (8). Bartlett, Huskins (6), Grindstaff (7) and Huskins. W--Justice (5-0). L--Bartlett. HRs, Cherryville, D. Wise, Walls and Lastra.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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