On Wednesday night, Mechanicsville Post 175 appeared to be in perfect position to earn a slot in the American Legion District 11 championship. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Post 175 broke out of a 5-5 deadlock with Lakeside Post 125 to reel off seven straight runs for a 12-5 lead.

  But a light failure on Powhatan’s Baltimore Field in the top of the sixth brought on a 35 minute delay and Post 175 did not return to the field with the same intensity. Mechanicsville gave up 12 runs over the remaining four innings to lose 17-16.

  “I really think that changed it when the lights went out,” said Lakeside coach Ted Paul. “It changed the momentum because they would have gotten us out there.”

  Mechanicsville coach Eddie Gates agreed that his team was not the same after the delay and felt they should have handled the situation better. “The lights come back on and we just lost the intensity,” he said. “These kids are old enough and experienced enough to know that kids hit the ball for a reason- to score runs and these kids can hit the ball. We didn’t execute at some times and played a little stupid at some times.”

  Lakeside scored quickly in the top of the first before 175 pitcher James Walsh found his groove. A two RBI homer from Porter Reinhardt gave 125 a 4-0 lead with one out.

  But then Walsh and the Post 175 defense found their rhythm, limiting the potent Lakeside offense to four hits and one run over the next four and two-thirds innings.  Meanwhile Mechanicsville’s offense came to life in the bottom of the first against Reinhardt; pitching for the first time this season.

  With one out, Reinhardt loaded the bases by hitting Brandon Angus, walking Will Connerley then hitting Jordan Boze with a pitch. A single to left from Conner Hall drove in Angus and Connerley then Hall along with Boze came home on a double to the right field fence by Ryan Bettinger.

  A single stretched into a double by Bryan Johansen put two runners in scoring position, signaled a quick end to Reinhardt’s day, and put a further strain on 125’s versatility on the mound. 

  Playing their 14th game in 16 days and their sixth straight in the tournament, Lakeside came into the contest with an exhausted rotation. “We had no pitchers,” Paul said. “The guys that pitched for us tonight, not a single one has pitched for us all year.”

  Alec Keller came on in relief and notched a strikeout before a single in the gap from Jack Edwards drove in Bettinger for a 5-4 Mechanicsville lead.

  Post 125 tied the game in the top of the fourth. Jay Hudgins led off with a single to left and reached second on a sacrifice bunt from Micah Gorman. It appeared Mechanicsville would put an end to the scoring threat when Connerley sprang up from behind the plate to deliver a bullet to Hall at second for a pickoff. But Hall was called for interference on the play when the two collided and Hudgins awarded third. A Keller single up the middle then plated the runner for a 5-5 tie.

  But Mechanicsville exploded in their turn at bat.

  Five consecutive hits gave Mechanicsville a 8-5 lead followed by a two RBI homer from Michael Thomas that made it 11-5 and brought Mac Hudgins to the mound for Post 125.

  But Brandon Angus singled, stole second then scored on a single from Connerley to give Post 175 a commanding 12-5 lead.

  However, with momentum clearly in their favor, the lights on Powhatan’s field suddenly went off in the top of the sixth and it took nearly 35 minutes to get them back on.

  Walsh was on a roll prior to the blackout and looked well on his way several more innings of work but he and the rest of the Post 175 defense was not the same upon their return to play.

  With one out and Zach Joseph at first, Gorman reached on a single. Mac Hudgins then reached on an error that allowed both Joseph and Gorman to score.

  Walsh got Keller to ground out, but Hudgins scored to trim the lead 12-8.
  Casey Fox was walked on four pitches and Chris Dyer singled to short before Reinhardt lofted a shot to left center that bounced off the top of the fence back into the field of play but allowed both runners to score. It signaled the end of Walsh’s night.

  “He just didn’t have it when he came back,” Gates said. “I should have made the change sooner but I didn’t. I guess that’s my fault.”

  Johansen came on in relief but what Reinhardt could not accomplish Dave Dwight did with a two-run homer to knot the game 12-12.

  Paul was not surprised that his team made a comeback. “They never give up,” he said. “They won last night 10-9 down 7-0 in the first inning. So these kids never give up.”

  The same could not be said for Mechanicsville. “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,” Hall said. “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 all nine players towards the end of the game.”

  Post 175’s offense still sparkled in the bottom of the sixth when Zach Broaddus, Edwards, Thomas and Angus led off with four consecutive doubles to retake the lead 15-12 and bring Dwight to the mound.

  Dwight notched one out before Boze drove in Angus for a 16-12 lead, but Post 175 would record only one more hit over the final three innings of play.

  “We hit a stretch there in the middle of the game where five of the six balls we hit were pop ups,” Gates said. “Three of them didn’t even get out of the infield. Certain situations you’ve got to hit the ball and you’ve got to get it out of the infield and we didn’t do it. We didn’t execute on certain plays. Some plays we did. Some plays we didn’t.”

  Meanwhile Lakeside tacked on two runs in the top of the seventh and three more in the top of the ninth to take the win.

  Though Mechanicsville had one of the best regular seasons in their history, the disappointment of the finish was difficult to swallow.

  “We had a great season,” Hall said. “Everybody came through, the whole lineup came through.

  “It sucks,” he added. “We were the best team out here no doubt. We just ran into injuries and we couldn’t get it going like we had it at the beginning and the middle of the season. We couldn’t get it rockin’. We couldn’t hit on all cylinders.”