OAKLAND — The home team had won each of the previous six meetings between Fort Cumberland and Garrett County, and Post 13 broke the trend Tuesday — one of several it busted in a must-win game.
It’s no secret that Fort Cumberland hasn’t played to its potential down the stretch, but, after a 16-4 drubbing at Southern High last week, Post 13 went to work and it was evident in all three phases.
Fort Cumberland banged out 11 base hits — four for extra bases — committed just one error and right-hander Parker Ferraro attacked the strike zone, as Post 13 cruised at Garrett County, 7-1, in Oakland.
The victory gives Fort Cumberland (6-7) a 4-3 record in Mountain District play with one game to play. Post 13 will try to clinch a spot in the state tournament Thursday at the Hot Stove Complex at 6 p.m.
If Garrett wins to even the season series, there will be a one-game playoff, likely on Sunday. A coin will be flipped after the game Thursday to determine the home team if there is a ninth game.
“We hadn’t been playing well, and I said the other night that I thought it was lack of practice,” Fort Cumberland head coach Brian McAlpine said. “Since the last game here we’ve practiced every day. … We got a lot of swings in and it showed.”
Fort Cumberland started fast, plating two runs in the first and second innings and another in the third to lead 5-0 after just three frames.
That was enough run support for Ferraro (Mountain Ridge), as the starting arm settled down after some early wildness to take a shutout into the sixth inning.
Ferraro hit his pitch limit after 5 1/3 frames, but Leuma Pua’auli (Mountain Ridge) shut the door allowing no runs on no hits over the final inning and 2/3.
“Parker pitched lights out,” coach McAlpine said of his right-hander, who gave up just one run on five hits with three strikeouts and four walks. “He did exactly what I asked him to do, make their bats beat us, let’s not help them out. Uma came in and closed the door doing the same thing.”
Landon McAlpine (Mountain Ridge) gave Fort Cumberland its first lead with an RBI single in the first, and Pua’auli broke it open an inning later with a two-run home run over the left-field fence to make it 4-0.
Ferraro tallied a two-out RBI single in the third. Alex Kennell (Allegany) added an insurance run in the seventh on his second double of the game — he finished 3 for 4 with an RBI — and an error scored another to make it 7-1 Cumberland.
Steven Spencer (Fort Hill) also had a three-hit day, singling thrice and stealing two bases. Pua’auli was 3 for 4 with two runs batted in, Caedon Wallace (Allegany) doubled, McAlpine scored three times and Carson Bradley (Mountain Ridge) plated a run with a sac fly.
Garrett County was out-hit 11-5, and Myles Uphold (Northern) accounted for three base hits.
Tanner Haskiell (Southern) hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth for Garrett’s lone run, but Fort Cumberland was more than happy to trade the score for an out with the bases loaded and one away.
Pua’auli got out of the jam and limited the damage to just one run with a groundout to second base.
Garrett County also had the bases loaded in the fifth inning but couldn’t capitalize.
Post 71/214 had a streak of 15 straight outs against Ferraro that were either flyouts or strikeouts.
“They hit some balls hard and they seemed to find some gaps,” Garrett County head coach Phil Carr said. “We hit the ball hard, the few we did were right at them. We had some traffic on the bases and couldn’t get the big hit.”
Ryan Bird (Southern) nearly had an extra-base RBI hit in the third frame, but Tyson Shumaker (Mountain Ridge) made an over-the-shoulder grab on a long fly ball to left field for the final out.
“We had a very nice defensive game in the outfield,” coach McAlpine said.
Jared Haskiell (Southern) knocked a two-out double to center field in the fourth but was stranded there.
Robert Deatelhauser took the loss for Garrett County. After getting hit around early, the left-hander settled in to throw up three straight scoreless innings to give Post 71/214 a chance.
“He’s the kind of pitcher that he needs the edge pitches,” Carr said, “and he just didn’t get any off the edges today. I thought that was kind of the difference.”
Garrett County also only committed one error and had some quality defensive plays itself, notably a diving stop and strong throw from shortstop Brayden Upole (Southern) in the seventh inning and a caught stealing by catcher Liam Stewart (Northern) in the fourth.
The two local rivals now turn to Thursday, when Fort Cumberland will hope to punch its ticket to the state tournament next weekend with a victory, and Garrett County aims to force a Game 9 to claim its own spot at states.
Bryce Madden (Allegany) and Tanner Haskiell are the likely starters for Fort Cumberland and Garrett County, respectively.
“We’ve got to beat Bryce, but Tanner is throwing for us, who we consider our best,” Carr said. “You’ve got the two best guys, and the last time down there it was 2-1 (Fort Cumberland).”