Irmo- Chapin's Chad Balderman hits a home run against West Columbia in the fourth inning. League Eight foes West Columbia Post 79 and Irmo- Chapin Post 174 met in the fourth round of the S.C. American Legion State Championship Tournament in Spartanburg Saturday, August 1. While West Columbia won the regular season league title, it was Irmo- Chapin that played like champions defeating West Columbia 14- 7 to stay undefeated in the tournament.

Irmo- Chapin was guaranteed a spot in the championship game regardless of the outcome with West Columbia, however, the victory meant the winner of the other fourth round elimination game, either Conway or Florence, would have to beat Irmo- Chapin twice to win the championship. That appeared to be plenty of motivation for Irmo- Chapin.

Irmo- Chapin jumped out to an early 4- 1 lead in the first inning, but a towering home run by West Columbia catcher Zach Hawley in the bottom of the second inning closed the gap to 4- 2. Another solo home run, this time by Corey Holmes, brought West Columbia to within one in the bottom of the third inning. After Irmo- Chapin starting pitcher Taylor Alvarez hit Cody Bessinger with a pitch, gave up a single to Jonathan Betancourt, and a sacrifice bunt to Ryan Burt, he hit Hawley in the elbow with a pitch that eventually caused Hawley to leave the game.

Irmo- Chapin's Michael Huff bunts against West Columbia. Huff pitched 2- 2/3 innings allowing three runs and striking out two. He then moved to right field and promptly gunned down Todd Joyner at third base who was attempting to tag up from second. Michael Huff entered in relief with the bases loaded and gave up a single to Zach Sharpe that scored Bessinger. Luke Beasley then hit a ground ball to Irmo- Chapin shortstop Kaden Watson that he tossed to second for the force out. Betancourt was able to score on the play giving West Columbia a 5- 4 lead. Huff was able to draw a fly ball from the next batter, Lucas Knight, to stop the bleeding.

Irmo- Chapin bounced back in the fourth inning with Chad Balderman's two- run blast over the left field fence. Huff then settled into a groove for Irmo- Chapin shutting down the West Columbia bats over the next two innings.

West Columbia's Zachery Hawley trots to the plate after hitting a home run in the second inning against Irmo- Chapin. Hawley was forced to leave the game in the fifth inning due to an arm injury he sustained after getting hit by a pitch in the third inning. Meanwhile a West Columbia error in the top of the fifth allowed Josh Miller to score. Then Alex Kirby's single to center field scored Huff and forced West Columbia to the bullpen. Matthew Boulware entered the game and immediately gave up a single to left field from Will Keel that scored Kirbey making it a 9- 5 Irmo- Chapin lead. Balderman followed with a line shot that Bessinger was able to snag at his third base position and double up Keel who was already at second base.

West Columbia bats heated up again in the bottom of the sixth inning when Luke Beasley led off with a shot to center field that bounced off the top of the wall and into the woods. Knight followed with a single, and Huff moved to right field to make room for Kirbey on the mound. After Todd Joyner's bloop single moved Knight to third base, Holmes grounded out to second base allowing Knight to advance home and tighten the score to 9- 7. With Joyner at second base, Bessinger flew out to moderately deep right field. Joyner tagged up at second and headed to third base, but Huff threw a bullet to Keel at third base that nabbed Joyner with five feet to spare.

Irmo- Chapin shortstop Kaden Watson throws out a West Columbia batter. Irmo- Chapin began to pull away in the eighth inning. After a perfect sacrifice bunt from Tyler Martin advanced Watson to third base and D.J. Roberts to second base, Miller popped a double off the left field wall scoring both Watson and Roberts. Huff followed with a single to center field that scored Miller giving Irmo- Chapin a 12- 7 lead.

Kirby shut down West Columbia in the bottom of the eighth, and the Irmo- Chapin offense went back to work in the top of the ninth on another West Columbia pitcher, Jeremy Brazell. Martin singled to right field to score Balderman and Watson increasing the lead to 14- 7.

Jesse Morris entered the game to pitch the bottom half of the ninth for Irmo- Chapin. He walked two, but got out of the inning to preserve Irmo- Chapin's perfect tournament record.

The Irmo- Chapin pitching staff held West Columbia bats to just eight hits. In previous games versus Conway and Gaffney, they had racked up a total of 38.