Larry Hewett/Clarendon Citizen
Manning-Santee’s destiny goes out of control
Entering the final week of the regular season in American Legion baseball, Post 68 controlled its own destiny. With Cheraw Post 23 hot on their heels for the fourth and final play-off spot in League III, the mission was simple - win and advance, or lose and pack up the gear.
Unfortunately, Manning-Santee dropped its final three games and finds itself out of the post-season.
Week five started out on a positive note Monday night as Post 68 edged Dalzell 4-2 to complete the season sweep of Post 175. The win pushed their overall record to 7-10, making a combination of another win or Cheraw loss the clincher.
Rain caused a postponement of Tuesday’s home match-up with second place Camden. Almost fittingly, the bad weather seemed to place a dark cloud on the rest of the week.
Still needing to pick up a crucial win, Post 68 traveled to Hartsville on Wednesday to take on third place Post 53. Manning-Santee claimed a four run lead in the tenth inning but saw the home team put up a five spot in the bottom of the frame to steal a wild 15-14 victory.
Cheraw knocked off Camden and trailed Manning-Santee by a single game when Post 23 came to town on Thursday night.
Heading into the eighth inning, Post 68 lead 8-5 and seemed ready to close the door on Cheraw’s late season run. But the visitors sent ten batters to the plate with five of those crossing home plate, then added a single run in the top of the ninth for an 11-8 advantage.
Manning-Santee was not about to throw in the towel however. Bill Wheeler drew a walk to lead off the bottom of the ninth and Mike Keels rapped a single, his fifth hit of the evening. A balk and a stolen base put them at second and third with none out.
Aubrey McFadden’s base hit scored Wheeler and Keels, bringing Manning-Santee to within one run, 11-10. But McFadden was left stranded at first as the next three batters were retired.
The Cheraw victory left the two teams deadlocked with one game remaining on the schedule.
Friday night’s action would have Cheraw taking on Dalzell and Camden returning to Manning. Although the skies were clear, the game got off to a stormy beginning for Post 68. Jack LaFrage doubled with one out.
After Tyler Pike lined out to center, third baseman Bryant Salmond uncorked a two-run homer that cleared the centerfield fence, just a few feet to the right of the 375’ sign. That was a premonition for the evening as Post 17 scored three more runs in the inning to go up 5-0.
Manning-Santee answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Keels singled to lead off and stole second. Douglas Ard walked to put two on with nobody out. A wild pitch enabled Keels to reach third and he scored on Heath Smith’s ground-out. Ard later scored on Trevor Smith’s sacrifice.
But Camden doubled their score over the next three innings with one in the second and four more in the fourth. The visitors’ bats had already reached double figures in hits and were aided by a fistful of Manning-Santee errors.
Post 68 was able to chip away at the deficit but could not completely climb out of the hole. From the bottom of inning number four to the end of the game Manning-Santee actually outscored Post 17 6-3, but came up short by a score of 13-8.
Cheraw belted Dalzell 19-9 and, coupled with Manning-Santee’s loss, took the fourth spot in League III.
Manning-Santee finished with a record of 7-13.
