MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Midland (Michigan) Post 165 scored in six of seven innings en route to a 10-1 win over Morgantown Post 2 in the championship game of the American Legion Great Lakes Regional Sunday at Dale Miller Field.
Midland posted a pair of three-run innings in the first and second innings, which were separated by a four-plus hour weather delay, to jump out to a 6-0 lead.
“They’re really good. This is their tenth time to the World Series. They are experienced. They have some old guys and some college guys out there and they have been through it before. It is a tough team. You saw what they did to everyone else in this tournament,” said Post 2 manager Andy Altemus.
“I was proud of them no matter what. To get this far is really important for the future of the program. Having the people come out and see what we do, representing the town and state really, really well, I liked everything they did.”
Morgantown needed to defeat Midland twice to advance to the American Legion World Series. Their season ends with a 16-10 record and the program’s second runner-up finish in a regional tourney since 2007.
Midland (38-3) outhit Morgantown 13-3. Al Warner went 3-for-4 at the plate with three doubles and a pair of RBI. Max Coughlin earned the victory on the mound. He allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter in six innings of work.
Morgantown has won five games at the regional level over the 2019 and 2021 seasons.
“We wanted (the seniors) to leave it better than they found it and they absolutely did. They did more than any other group that has ever been through here. The (2019) run we had in Asheboro, you saw a lot of those key players were here today.”
Morgantown will return to the Mid-Atlantic region in the summer of 2022 and Dale Miller Field will play host to the regional tournament in each of the next two seasons.
“The kids were talking about next year right now. They were talking about what they are going to do. And a couple guys are able to come back for an extra year, which is really fun. They can’t wait to do that. The scoreboard is still on and we are still talking about next year.”