Mechanicsville Post 175 suffered a technical(ogical) knockout at the hands of Lakeside Post 125, on Wednesday night in the American Legion District 11 at Powhatan High School.

  The bizarre loss was one that did not overshadow, but definitely put a damper on an outstanding season that saw Mechanicsville come away as the best team in the league over the course of the regular season.

  However, it was not that Post 175 suffered an upset loss in the tournament semifinals, but rather how they lost, which will be something that will be talked about for years to come.
  Post 175 gave up four quick runs to Lakeside in the top of the first but then took control by answering with five of their own in the bottom of the inning.

  Mechanicsville then limited Post 125’s potent offense to one run over the next four at-bats.

  Knotted up in a 5-5 in the 5th inning, Mechanicsville’s defense was sharp and on point.

  Then in the bottom of the inning, Post 175 put up a lights-out offensive explosion where 13 batters came to the plate to reel off seven consecutive runs.

  Breaking out of the deadlock to take a commanding 12-5 lead, Post 175 appeared to have the game well in hand.

  But then the lights went out on Post 175- literally.

  Lakeside had one on with one out and Micah Gorman facing a 1-1 count when the lights on Powhatan’s Baltimore Field suddenly went off. The scoreboard remained on. The PA still played. But the field was swallowed in darkness- an event Powhatan officials said had never happened at the school before.

  Left in the dark on the excessively hot, humid night and seeing their team trailing by seven runs past the midway point of the game, nearly half of the Lakeside fans packed up to head home in hopes of spending the rest of their evening in air conditioned comfort.

  Everyone else was left to sweat it out.

  Post 175’s players passed the time staying loose by shagging balls, jousting one another on piggy back and practicing their golf swings with baseball bats while the Lakeside players mulled over an impending loss within the confines of their dugout.

  Time ticked on in a game that would eventually take almost four hours to complete and everyone waited.

  Only thirty-five minutes passed but it seemed much, much longer before the lights came back on at Baltimore Field.

  For Mechanicsville, the lights never did come back on. 

  When the teams finally returned to play, Post 175’s momentum was long gone as they surrendered their advantage to eight straight Post 125 batters that scored seven runs to tie the game.

  Lakeside finally took the lead in the top of the ninth and Mechanicsville could not answer, falling 17-16.

  “From the first inning, even though they scored first, once we came in and pounded them, we felt we had the momentum all the way until the lights cut off and we had that delay,” said Mechanicsville short stop Conner Hall. “I guess some people sat around and got tired, I was one of them, but some people just got to overcome that. We didn’t come out with all nine players towards the end of the game.”

  Ironically, the sudden, yet limited, blackout should not really have come as that much of a surprise. After all, something pretty strange things had happened in every matchup between the two teams this season.

  “It always happens. Always,” said a disappointed Post 175 coach Eddie Gates after the semifinal loss. “Lights go out. Weird plays, whatever.”

  No one could explain what happened to the lights at Powhatan that night, but it was clear Mechanicsville lost sight of a possible championship in the dark.