By CT McDonald
Local South Carolina American League Summer Baseball (SCALSB) teams got the playoffs started early this week in the best-of-three format, with second round games set to begin before week’s end.
West Columbia Post 79 completed the regular season as the undisputed winner of the Midlands Division and started the playoffs Monday with a short-game lopsided win. The 79’ers shut out Richland 13-0 in three innings, with game two of the series to have been played at Seven Oaks Park Tuesday.
If West Columbia won the second game, it would have advanced to the first game of the second round on Friday against either Camden or Florence. If Richland won the two would have played a third game to determine the winner of the 3-game series.
Lexington Post 7, the fourth place team in the Midlands Division, also won big when it defeated the division’s second place team, Greenwood, 29-7 at home on Monday, with game two set for Greenwood’s Legion Field on Tuesday.
The winner of this series will advance to the second round starting Friday against either Sumter or Dalzell. That will also be a best-of-three series running, if necessary, through Tuesday.
In addition to West Columbia, Richland and Lexington, Chapin/Newberry (CN) rounds out the four local midlands teams competing in the SCALSB Midlands Division. CN was to play North Augusta, the division’s third-place team in the first round, but had to withdraw from competition because it was “unable to participate in the 1st Rnd.,” according to a post on its Twitter page.
Midlands Division teams finished the regular season last week with West Columbia undefeated in first place, then Greenwood, North Augusta, Lexington, Chapin/Newberry and Richland.
After the upcoming second round, the SCALSB Seniors State Tournament will be held at Segra Park in Columbia August 14-16.
