Email: "Weirton falls in tourney"
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GLEN DALE — It may have taken three days and five games to get to this point, but as expected West Virginia’s Area One American Legion championship round will come down to Wheeling Post 1 and Moundsville Post 3 this afternoon. Malakai Anderson twirled a three-hitter and Mason Rine capped a 5-for-5 day with his first home run as Post 3 scored early and often in rolling to a convincing 16-1, seven-inning, victory over Weirton Post 10 in an elimination game at steamy John Marshall High School Saturday. With the win, Manager Bill Burkett’s Moundsville team will take on Wheeling Post 1 today at 1 p.m. Should Post 3 win that game, a second game for the title would be played a half-hour later. Meanwhile, Post 1 needs just one victory today to hoist another Area One title. “We are still alive,” Burkett smiled after Saturday’s win. “I have no idea who I will have available to pitch (Sunday), but we will show up and give it all we have.” For Anderson it was another in a long line of impressive pitching performance for the former Paden City High standout this summer. He needed just 77 pitches to get the job done, with 50 of those going for strikes. Anderson also did not throw more than 18 pitches in any frame, and that came in the seventh when he also had his only walk. Moundsville wasted little time getting the offense moving yesterday, putting up two in the first, three in the second, third and fifth and five more in the sixth. The hosts didn’t even need a hit to get the initial two tallies as Jimmy Henderson walked and came all the way around when Wyatt Persinger reached on a one-out, three-base throwing error. Persinger later brought the second run home on a wild pitch. Henderson played a major part again in the second when he drilled a 2-2 pitch deep over the left field fence for a two-run homer and a 4-0 score. Rine followed a short time later with an RBI single. Magnolia graduate Davey Howell made it 6-0 as he blasted the first pitch of the bottom of the third over the right field fence. Henderson added a run-scoring double and a third run crossed on a wild pitch to push the margin to 8-0 after three. A Jason Troy double, a hit batter, Tim Mirandy’s single and Rine’s fourth base hit, and second RBI, of the day helped run the count to 11-0 heading to the sixth. Weirton’s only run came with one out in the sixth when Austin Pitchok bunted and reached third on a throwing error and raced home on the second miscue of the play. Post 3 put the finishing touches on things with five in the sixth, including Rine’s two-run bomb to left. “We hit the ball (Saturday) and didn’t make many errors,” Burkett added. “And Anderson pitched another great game, which he has been doing. He pitches quick and is always around the strike zone. “Now we just have to come back (Sunday) and see what we can do. I really believe that if we can hit the ball like we have the last couple of days we will be all right.” While Rine singled four times and homered, Mirandy chipped in with two singles and a double for the winners. Henderson, who has turned into a very efficient lead off hitter for Post 3, reached base in four of five at-bats and scored four runs. Of Weirton’s three hits in the game, two of the runners were erased on the bases via double plays. Moundsville also committed just the two errors, on the same play in the game after having eight in a victory over Wellsburg on Friday. Moundsville 16, Weirton 1 Weirton 000 001 0 — 1 3 6 Moundsville 233 035 x — 16 15 2 W-Ford lp (4so, 2w), Swartzmiller (6) (0so, 0w) and Harmon, Shaw (6). Harmon D; Nogay S; Shaw S. M-Anderson wp (1so, 1w) and Troy. Henderson D, HR, 3rbi; Troy S, D; Mirandy 2S, D; Rine 4S, HR, 4rbi; Howell HR, rbi.

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