Post 11 dispatches Edgecombe County

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on July 13, 2008 2:02 AM

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From staff reports

Mission accomplished.

Wayne County entered the Area I East playoffs with two goals: Get through the first round against Edgecombe County, and do it in impressive fashion.

Post 11 rolled into the semifinals with a 15-1 win at Tarboro's Indian Lake Sports Complex on Friday night and will await the winner of the Pitt County-Wilson series in round two.

"This is how you want to do it," Post 11 head coach Brad Reaves said. "You want to win as quick as you can and maybe get some of the other series to go the full three games. The rest is important."

Wayne County took its time putting this game away, building a 5-1 lead after four innings. The knockout punch came in the form of a ten-run seventh inning in which John Wooten homered twice.

Wooten led off the explosion with a first-pitch shot that cleared the left field fence, which he belted with his standard alluminum bat. Later in the inning Wooten sent another baseball packing, this time with a wooden bat that he had been begging to use.

"John is just a good hitter," said Reaves. "He has been bugging me to hit with the wooden bat, so when he came up for the second time we let him.

"And to be honest the home run he hit with the wooden bat was the more impressive of the two."

In between Wooten's blasts Adron Hollowell drove in a pair of runs with a base hit to right field, and Tyler Edwards tripled home two runs as Post 11 grouped a walk, a double, a triple, two home runs and five singles against Post 316.

Walker Gourley and Zach Wright also belted home runs in the victory.

For the second consecutive night, the offense had 17 hits. Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one. Seven players tallied multiple hits.

While the offense was having its way with a trio of Edgecombe pitchers, Taylor Allen was silencing the opposition bats. He allowed a first-inning run, then gave up one hit the last six innings for his fifth win.

Allen recorded only one strikeout but needed just 78 pitches in the seven-inning contest. Two-thirds of those pitches went for strikes.

"Taylor had it working all night, and he kept us in it," Reaves said. "He gave up a run early but after he got in the flow and started throwing strikes he settled right down and pitched well."

Wayne County (16-4 overall) will play host to the first semifinal game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Mount Olive College. The remainder of Post 11's home games this season will be played at MOC, and Post 11 officials expect to return to that site next season after moving to Southern Wayne High School due to renovations at Scarborough Field.

"We need to use the next couple days getting used to the field at Mount Olive," Reaves said. "Some of the guys have never played there before, so we want to make sure everyone feels comfortable."