HANOVER — Aggressive base running is part of Fort Cumberland’s identity.
It cost the club potential runs early against Cecil County Tuesday, but it was the reason Fort Cumberland lifted another state championship in the end.
Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the sixth inning, Fort Cumberland’s Kohen Madden singled to center field, and a misplay by the Cecil fielder allowed Madden to slide into third base and a run to score.
The throw to third from the cut-off man was low and took a high hop into foul territory, and third-base coach Brian McAlpine sent his runner home.
Madden was beat by the throw at the plate, but the Cecil catcher dropped the ball and the game was tied.
Fort Cumberland eventually found the winning tally in the eighth inning on a bases-loaded walk by Madden, and Post 13 came from behind to defeat Cecil County Post 15, 3-2, to capture its second consecutive Maryland American Legion state title Tuesday at Joe Cannon Stadium.
“The leadership on this team is second to none,” coach McAlpine said. “They won’t give up. It doesn’t matter how ugly it is, they won’t give up. The just keep grinding.”
Fort Cumberland (21-6) won all five of its state tournament games, with four coming by one run and three in come-from-behind fashion.
Prior to Post 13’s 2023 title, they hadn’t won a state crown since 1976 — a 47-year drought.
Fort Cumberland moves into a tie with Cheverly Post 108 for the fourth-most state championships in Maryland history with seven titles. Baltimore Post 33 leads the pack with 15.
Had Post 13 lost Tuesday, Cecil County would’ve had to beat Fort Cumberland a second time later in the day due to the tournament’s double-elimination format.
Fort Cumberland didn’t let it get that far.
Its ace right-hander Bryce Madden (Glenville State signee) toed the rubber to start and allowed two runs over 5 2/3 solid innings, and reliever Landyn Ansel set down seven of the eight batters he faced to keep Post 13 tied 2-2 after a frantic comeback in the sixth inning.
Following a scoreless seventh inning, Fort Cumberland finally ended it in the eighth.
Madden began the rally with a well-placed bunt down the third-base line for a lead-off single, and Landon McAlpine walked to chase left-handed reliever Chris Harris.
On right-hander Truman Auwerda’s first pitch, his catcher sailed a bad pick to second base into center field, allowing both runners to move into scoring position with nobody out.
After a pop out to get the first out, Cecil elected to intentionally walk Myles Bascelli to load the bases for a potential inning-ending double play.
The strategy backfired, as Kohen Madden worked a full count and laid off an outside pitch to push across the winning run with a walk.
However, Madden’s sixth-inning base hit that resulted in a little league home run proved to be the game’s most important sequence.
“I was just trying to put the bat on the ball,” Madden said. “They made an error, made them pay for it. … I just started going. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Coach McAlpine told me to go, so I went.”
Fort Cumberland’s aggressiveness misfired early.
It had seven batters reach against LHP Matthew Murdock in the first three innings, but it made an out on the base paths in each frame.
Cecil right-fielder Wyatt McDowell gunned down Bryce Madden, who was trying to tag up, at third base in the first inning.
A runner was picked off in the second frame, and catcher Ethan Flaugher (Mount St. Mary’s) — who was named tournament MVP — threw out a would-be base-stealer in the third.
Cecil County eventually blinked under the pressure in the sixth inning.
“That was a pretty big error by their center fielder,” coach McAlpine said. “My aggressive nature, I sent Kohen from third. If he’d have got out, I’d have heard it from everybody. Momentum was going, I thought what the hell let’s try it.”
Madden was voted the tournament’s top pitcher. He allowed two runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and three walks in 5 2/3 innings.
The Allegany grad expended too many pitches early to finish the game, exiting at 106 pitches, but did enough to give Fort Cumberland a chance.
“I had pretty good command of my four-seam today, which normally I’m not using,” said Madden, who was also 2 for 4 at the plate. “I had good velo. Felt my actual grip on the mound today, and my off-speed was on point.”
He passed the torch to Ansel, who threw 2 2/3 shutout innings of no-hit ball to pick up the win on the mound.
Post 13 catcher Carson Bradley (Allegany College) was voted the tournament’s Offensive MVP after accumulating eight hits over the course of the week — one a two-run home run on Monday in an 8-2 win against Old Mill.
Murdock, who is entering his sophomore year at Cecil College, was tabbed with a no decision. He gave up an unearned run on two hits in five innings, striking out five and walking two.
Jose Romero, signed to Division 3 Lincoln University, and Flaugher combined for all five of Cecil’s base hits.
Romero was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs, and Flaugher finished 2 for 4 with a run scored.
Cecil took a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run double to left center by Romero.
The lead was short lived, however, as Cecil unraveled defensively one inning later.
Fort Cumberland advances to the Mid-Atlantic Regional for the second straight season, where it went 1-2 last year.
Post 13’s regional victory was the post’s first since 1934.
Fort Cumberland opens regional play on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 4:30 p.m. against Delaware state champion Del Vets Post 1 at Joe Cannon Stadium.
Del Vets routed 33-time Delaware champ Stahl Post 30, 17-3, for the title.
Fort Cumberland will be searching for some revenge after it was knocked out by the Delaware representative at regionals last year in Morgantown, West Virginia.
“Last year, I kind of made the mistake of saying, ‘Hey, we got here, let’s win a game,'” coach McAlpine said. “That’s not the mentality they like, so we’re going to take an approach to try and get on ESPN (in the World Series) two weeks after that.
“You never know. Never say die with this group, I’ll tell you that.”