POTOMAC PARK — Fort Cumberland Post 13 had already clinched the Mountain District championship, but it didn’t play like Monday’s game had little to no stakes.
Fort Cumberland combined for 18 hits and plated 20 runs, cruising to a 20-1 five-inning victory over Garrett County Post 71/208/214 at Jim Holler Field.
“We came out smoking hot,” Fort Cumberland head coach Brian McAlpine said. “I challenged them, get ready for two weeks from today for the play-in game. We’re really hitting the cages hard, we came out rolling.”
Post 13 (11-6, 7-1 Mountain District) scored nine runs in the first and third innings.
Three of the first five hitters for Fort Cumberland reached in the bottom of the first as Post 13 jumped out to a 3-0 lead.
With two outs, eight consecutive batters reached safely, adding six more runs to make it a 9-0 advantage.
After adding a pair of runs in the second, Fort Cumberland’s first five hitters reached in the bottom of the third.
Post 13 added three more runs without recording an out, then sent nine more batters to home plate, resulting in six runs.
“We can’t say we did too many things right when we get beat by 19,” Garrett County head coach Phil Carr said. “They were on fire hitting the ball. We didn’t make a lot of pitches, for their hitters it must’ve looked like beach balls.”
The bottom of the first took over 20 minutes to complete while the bottom of the third was nearly 30 minutes.
Post 13 used four pitchers who all threw at least one inning.
Bryce Madden earned the win after two innings, allowing two hits and a run with three strikeouts.
Steven Spencer, Bobby Brauer and Carson Bradley combined for three shutout innings, only allowing one hit.
Post 13 had 12 players reach base at least once, 10 record a hit and five with multiple hits.
“It was definitely a team effort,” McAlpine said. “I’ve been preaching team all year long. There’s an importance for every one of them, there’s a role for every one of them. It’s nice, they’re making it hard on me for playing time.”
Landon McAlpine led Post 13, going 4 for 4 with four RBIs.
Bryce Madden went 3 for 3 with a walk and an RBI.
Both McAlpine and Madden reached base twice in the first and third innings.
Myles Bascelli, Kohen Madden and Josef Sneathen each had two hits.
Garrett County’s starter Luke Ross only recorded two outs and was replaced by Robert Deatelhauser.
Deatelhauser, Reece Tasker and Brayden Upole finished the game.
Upole was the only pitcher that didn’t allow at least five runs, throwing a 1-2-3 bottom of the fourth.
“They hit a couple balls that were six to eight inches off the ground,” Carr said. “I thought we made a couple two strike pitches that were good, but they still got base hits.”
Cole Folk drove in Garrett County’s only run on an RBI double in the second.
Fort Cumberland and Garrett County will play on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Garrett College.