Miscues affect Kinston Post 43 in Game 1 loss to Pitt County Post 39
Kinston Post 43 manager Ty Eason talks to his team after a 12-2 defeat to Pitt County Post 39 Monday in Game 1 of the American Legion Area 1 East Playoffs. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News
WINTERVILLE -- It wasn't the ideal start to the postseason for Kinston Post 43, but there's time to recover.
Pitt County Post 39 took advantage of numerous miscues to win 12-2 Monday in Game 1 of the American Legion Area 1 East playoffs at Pitt Community College. Despite having just four hits in the entire game, Pitt County Post 39 was able to end the match in five innings to gain a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 series.
“We’ve competed all year long, and this is the first bit of adversity we’ve really faced,” Kinston Post 43 manager Ty Eason said. “We just need to make a couple adjustments — our confidence wasn’t there after getting down on ourselves after a couple errors early. I told the guys after the game to maintain the trust in their teammates and really, the only other adjustment we need to make would be having more patience at the plate.”
Kinston Post 43 opened the game with an RBI grounder by Garrett Tyndall in the top of the first, but Pitt County Post 39 responded in the bottom of the frame, benefiting from an error on a Robbie O’Neal grounder to push one run across the board and an RBI single by Josh McCarter for the second. An inning later, Phillip Boykin was hit by a pitch, stole second and advanced on two passed balls to put Pitt County Post 39 ahead 3-1.
Post 43 opened the fourth with consecutive singles from Colby McLawhorn, Tripp Creech and Dylan Meyer and although Brandon Potter hit into a double play, he brought in a run to bring the team within 3-2.
Unfortunately, Pitt County Post 39 exploded in the bottom of the frame, scoring eight runs with only two hits, including a 2-run double from McCarter. A combination of three passed balls, an error, a hit by pitch and four walks — three of them with the bases loaded — proved to be too much for Kinston. In the bottom of the fifth, Pitt County ended the game on an RBI single from Ty’Shawn Barrett as the 10-run rule went into effect.
Game 2 will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kinston High School.
