TROY—Greenville American Legion Post 140 advanced to the District 3 championship game with a 3-2 win over Sidney American Legion Post 217. Layne Hocker breezed through the first sixth innings to pick up the win for Greenville, but not before two Post 140 seventh-inning errors made the game very interesting.
“All year, it’s been a thing where it seems like we would make a mistake, and then we compound it,” said Post 140 coach Chad Henry. “All year long, for six innings, we’re one of the better teams.”
“We can play with anybody but having that bad inning has just gotten away from us so we’ve been challenging them,” Henry continued. “We’ve been working on that, stressing that, don’t think about it, just approach, do the same things you’ve been doing but make the plays you can make and don’t try to do more than you are capable of.”
Post 140 jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with a one-out back-to-back Zack Fulk and Braden Chambers line drive singles and an RBI single off the bat of Bryce Kramer. Braeden Wills followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly to deep center field.
Greenville took advantage of Xavier Mathews’s sixth-inning leadoff walk. Seth Kiser moved Matthews to second with a sacrifice bunt. Adam Edwards singled to deep short, putting runners on the corners with one out on the board. Brayden Huggins lined out deep to left, scoring a tagging Matthews, giving Post 140 a 3-0 advantage over Sidney.
Post 217 plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh, taking advantage of two Post 140 errors before popping out to Edwards at second, securing the win for Greenville Post 140 and a ticket to the championship game.
Layne Hocker earned the Greenville win going 6.1 innings, allowing 1 earned run and 4 walks while striking out 3. Zack Fulk picked up the save, tossing 0.2 innings in relief, allowing no hits, no walks, and no earned runs.
“Layne was maneuvering through their lineup today, and he pitched incredible,” Coach Henry stated. “We needed a big performance from him and he entered that seventh inning with 70 pitches, he had a day.”
Chambers paced Greenville Post 140, going 2-3 at the plate with a run scored; Kramer was 1-4 with an RBI; Nathan Waggoner went 1-3 with a walk; Fulk was 1-3 with a walk and a run, Seth Kiser went 1-3 with a double, Edwards 1-3, Huggins an RBI, Matthews a run, and Wills an RBI.
Sidney entered the tournament, winning eight of the last nine district titles.
“Sidney is an incredible team with incredible players. That’s an excellent pitcher, and that’s a good lineup,” said Henry. “Going against a team like that, that’s a lot of fun, it’s good for the guys, that’s good for their careers, that’s a good experience to take back into their high schools or going into college, whatever they’re going to.”
Greenville Post 140 enters the title game with the only undefeated tournament mark with a 2-0 record against 1-1 Troy Post 43, Sunday, July 21st, with a 1 p.m. start time at Troy’s Duke Park. Greenville needs a single win, while Troy must defeat Post 140 in two straight games for the District Title and move on to the American Legion Regionals.
“We’re looking forward to it – don’t want to be a bridesmaid,” Henry concluded.
123 456 7 R H E
200 001 0 3 7 3 Greenville American Legion Post 140
000 000 2 2 4 0 Sidney American Legion Post 217
