Severna Park Post 175 falls late

Leading by five runs going into the bottom of the sixth inning of its second round Mid-Atlantic Region 2 American Legion baseball tournament game Thursday evening, Severna Park Post 175 looked poised to enter the weekend unscathed. A disastrous seven-run sixth inning, however, led to a 9-7 defeat toWilmington (Del.) Post1 and left Post 175 one loss away from being bounced from the double-elimination tournament, which is being held at Fireman's Field in Purcellville, Virginia.

Severna Park (23-6), which had not lost since the first game of the Maryland State American Legion tournament, looked to keep its regional playoff hopes alive against Souderton (Pa.) Post 234 on Friday. Souderton defeated Spring City (Pa.) Post 602, 13-1, Thursday following a 7-3 setback to Broad Street Park (N.J.) Post 313Wednesday.

“We should have absolutely won the game,” Severna Park manager Bob Hallet said. “The kids played hard and deserved better. We are down to 10-11 players, which hurts our pitching depth. Some are on vacation and high school sports.

“There are a lot of good teams here, but we still thinkwe can win this thing. Ifwe hit, play clean and throw strikes, we will be a tough out.”

Nate Thomas highlighted Wilmington's rally with a three-runhomerun and another runwas forced in by a bases-loadedwalk as Post 1 countered Severna Park's three-run top of the sixth that gave it a commanding 7-2 lead.

Offensively for Post 175, Scott Huntley went 2 for 3 with two runs and a pair of walks, CamClark collected two hits, including a double, Luke Guy scored twice, Jake Hallet drove in two runs and Jack Triolo knocked in three runs.

Four pitchers took themoundfor Severna Park and combined to issue sevenwalks.