No. 2 West CHERRYVILLE (28-6) vs. No. 1 East SHELBY (24-2)
Game 1, Wednesday at Shelby High: Shelby 9, Cherryville 2
Game 2: Thursday at Cherryville High. 7 pm.
Game 3: Friday at Shelby High, 7 p.m.
Game 4, if needed: Saturday at Cherryville High, 7 p.m.
Game 5, if needed: Sunday at Shelby High, 7 p.m.
HobbsDailyReport.com
SHELBY – Will Stiles and Dalton Putnam each hit a home run on Wednesday night, sparking Shelby Post 82’s 9-2 victory over visiting Cherryville to open a semifinal series in the Area IV American Legion baseball playoffs.
Putnam added a run-scoring double, Riley Cheek drove in two runs and Logan McNeely had a three-run double in the third inning to lead Shelby (25-2), the East No. 1 seed.
Jared Emory had a two-run single to provide Cherryville Post 100 (28-7, West No. 2 seed) its runs.
Game 2 of a best-of-5 series is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cherryville High, with Game 3 scheduled Friday at 7 p.m. back at Shelby High.
Shelby built its early lead, also in part, via eight walks by Cherryville starting pitcher Robbie Cowie.
Post 82’s only losses this season came in the regular season against East foe Maiden and in Game 3 of a second round series against the Gaston Braves (5-2 last Saturday).
Shelby swept its first round series against Taylorsville and ousted the Braves three games to one.
Cherryville rolled past Huntersville in the first round three games to none (31-4 in runs) and then had three shutout wins – 2-0, 11-0 and 1-0 – in the second round against Burke County.