Hopewell Post 339 loses to North Carolina in game four of American Legion World Series
Randolph County Post 45 from North Carolina defeated Hopewell Post 339 Thursday night in game four of the American Legion World Series.
From a field of more than 3,600 teams, Hopewell is one of just eight teams that earned the trip to Shelby, North Carolina for the 2017 World Series. This is the first World Series appearance for Hopewell. The team went 38-9 and won the Mid-Atlantic Regional to advance to the final eight.
Hopewell also made history Thursday night at assistant coach Allyson Coryell became the first woman to coach a team in the American Legion World Series.
Each team in the series has now played one game. Hopewell played against Randolph County, North Carolina in the final game of the evening.
Randolph County had five runs on six hits in the top of the first inning and was up 6-0 after Dawson Painter doubled home Jaxon Snider in the top of the fourth.
Hopewell’s Cam Cane singled in Nick Psomaras in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 6-1. But with runners on first and second, Ryan Hill struck Josh deDufour out swinging to end the inning for Hopewell.
In the fifth, Sam Margulis’ sacrifice bunt put Chase Fleming and Will Karp into scoring position for Hopewell. Luke Blair’s groundout scored Fleming to make it 6-2, but Hill ended the inning with another strikeout, this time of Chris DeClerico.
Hopewell added another run in the bottom of the ninth when Fleming’s single scored Andy Blake. Hopewell had the bases loaded with two outs, but North Carolina’s big first inning proved too much to overcome.
North Carolina’s Hill picked up the win after allowing just two runs on nine hits over seven innings. He struck out five batters.
Hopewell will face Arkansas in Game 7 of the series on Saturday morning.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
It’s great that one of the coaches for Hopewell is a woman. But, the game is played on the field and the players are the main actors. One photo of the coach is enough. Play ball!
We posted every photo of the Hopewell team that was provided to us by the American Legion. People in the Hopewell area are proud of the team and its coaches. The photos capture the spirit of the game and the history being made.