Greenwood Post 20 edges Rock Hill Post 34 in dramatic playoff Round Two opener
After falling behind Rock Hill Post 34 8-0 after five innings, the Greenwood American Legion Post 20 Braves seemed finished in the opening game of their second-round playoff series.
It looked even bleaker for Greenwood in the bottom of the fifth when the team's hottest hitter Gatlin Minick injured his leg rounding second base.
Fortunately, Brady Smith was ready.
Smith replaced Minick, and in the bottom of the ninth inning, clubbed a two-run walk-off home run two batters after Cody Adams hit a three-run game-tying shot to give Greenwood an improbable 10-8 victory and a 1-0 series lead.
"Man, it's unbelievable," Smith said. "I've never felt anything like this before. I never had a home run in high school and never had one last year in legion. This is my first home run being out of Little League. My first one being a walk-off, that's really something special."
Powered by Dupree Hart and Trent Autry, Rock Hill jumped all over Greenwood early. Hart doubled and hit a three-run home run, while Autry drove in two runs as Rock Hill stormed out to an 8-0 lead.
Minick started a rally in the bottom of the fifth, smashing a ball to the center field fence. As he rounded second to go for a triple, he came up short and fell down holding his leg. He needed to be carted off the field, bringing Smith into the game.
"It was so unexpected. It kind of caught me off guard," Smith said. "I just had to go in there and try to take the place of Gatlin. I just knew I had to come in there and fill his spot and try to live up to his standards."
Smith went on to score in the inning as Greenwood put up four runs to cut the deficit in half.
Alex Gurley gave Greenwood a chance to cut into the lead further by shutting down Rock Hill. The Greenwood graduate came on in the seventh inning and dominated. He gave up just one hit and struck out three while pitching a scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth.
The Braves scratched another run across in the seventh on Adams' RBI single, but Rock Hill's Josh Alley otherwise seemed untouchable. The 6-foot-5 Erskine signee allowed just two hits entering the ninth inning after relieving Will Chitwood in the sixth.
Greenwood's Andrew Sargent first touched up Alley in the ninth, lacing a triple to center field to lead off the frame. Wyatt Owens then worked a walk to bring Adams to the plate.
And, the first pitch the Saluda product saw, he crushed over the 370-foot marker in right center field to tie the game.
"He had been throwing ched fastballs all night, so I was expecting a fastball," Adams said. "I got a first-pitch fastball. I saw that one coming and hit it pretty good.
"I wasn't expecting to hit a home run. It felt great."
Hamp Fallaw struck out following Adams, but the ball skipped away from Rock Hill catcher Cam Smith to allow Fallaw to take first base. Smith stepped to the plate next and quickly fell behind two strikes.
But, he tagged the next fastball he saw to nearly the same spot as Adams did to steal Game 1.
"I got down two strikes early, but I knew I had to just fight him off until I got something I could hit," Smith said. "There was a passed ball and Hamp got to second, so I knew I had to pull the ball just to get Hamp to third to give us a chance.
"And, I don't know man. It all happened so fast."
Greenwood now leads the series 1-0 heading to Game 2 tonight in Rock Hill, who has used up its top two pitchers in Chitwood and Alley.
"You don't ever feel good playing a team like this that we're playing. You can't ever get comfortable," Greenwood coach Mack Hite said. "Obviously, we won it in the best way possible. They used two good arms and we snake it away there late. We're in the best possible situation up 1-0 in the series.
"Josh Alley told us after the game that he's never given up a home run his entire career, and he gave up two there in the last inning. That tells you how good of a pitcher he is and how tough it was to come back. Our guys just found a way to get some guys on and battling and finding ways."
Rock Hill 220 130 000 -- 8 11 3
Greenwood 000 040 105 -- 10 10 2
WP -- Alex Gurley, LP -- Josh Alley
Leading hitters -- R: Dupree Hart 2-3, HR, 2B, 3 RBIs, 3 R; Caleb Hamilton 2-5, 2 RBIs; Trent Autry 2-3, 2 RBIs. G: Cody Adams 2-6, HR, 4 RBIs, R; Brady Smith 1-3, HR, 2 RBIs, R; Gatlin Minick 2-3, R.
This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 7:36 AM with the headline "Greenwood Post 20 edges Rock Hill Post 34 in dramatic playoff Round Two opener."