Cherry Hill Post 372 Downs Hamilton Post 31 [Photos]

Cherry Hill Post 372 staved off elimination in the District 4 American Legion tournament at West Deptford Thursday—and they almost did it without needing any hits.

Post 372 took a 3-0 lead in the third without a base hit, feasting on a combination of patience at the plate and poor fielding by opponent Hamilton Post 31, then broke it wide open on back-to-back hits later in the inning, on the way to a 7-3 elimination bracket victory.

It was shades of the team's opening-round win, with nearly all the offense coming in the third inning—Post 372 racked up two runs on an error, drew back-to-back walks to bring in another run, then dropped the hammer with Charlie Clarke's two-run double and Tyler DiPascale's RBI single, followed by yet another Hamilton error that allowed Clarke to score.

Meanwhile, pitcher Carter Fichter was controlling the tempo on the defensive side, not allowing a hit until the fourth inning and only giving up one earned run in 6 1/3-plus innings. Post 372's John Bednarek came in to close out the game, inducing back-to-back groundouts to finish off Hamilton.

Cherry Hill faces the possibility of two games Friday—if the team wins against Washington Township at 4 p.m., it'll get a rematch with West Deptford immediately following, with the winner of that game bound for the state tournament as the District 4 runners-up.