HANOVER — Parker Ferraro wasn’t his best on the mound Saturday, but Kohen Madden picked up the slack and Ferraro played hero when it mattered most.
Ferraro struggled with control and Post 13 manager Brian McAlpine had a short leash facing elimination, lifting his starting arm in the second inning.
But the Mountain Ridge grad redeemed himself with the go-ahead RBI in the sixth inning and made the winning defensive play in the seventh, snagging a line drive by Owen Wilhide and tagging third base to help Madden escape what started as a bases-loaded, no-out jam.
Behind Ferraro’s heroics and Madden’s 5 1/3 shutout innings in relief, Fort Cumberland won another wacky one-run game, the latest a 3-2 come-from-behind triumph over Pennsylvania state runner-up Northeastern to advance to the final day of the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
“The whole team, the whole year, it’s a never-quit team,” Ferraro said. “And you have to stay in the game because you’re always able to make a difference. The next play is the most important. I proved it today.”
Fort Cumberland (24-7) survives to play Delaware state champion Del Vets Post 1 (19-6) on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals. Post 13 defeated Post 1, 3-0, in their first regional contest Wednesday.
The winner advances to the regional championship at 4 p.m. against Northeastern (23-5).
Fort Cumberland is two wins away from advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1934 when it captured the national championship.
Just five teams from Maryland in the past 49 years have advanced to the World Series, which is held annually in Shelby, North Carolina. This year’s tournament runs from Aug. 15-20.
Fort Cumberland’s rally Saturday began in the fifth inning with some good fortune.
With Post 13 trailing 2-1, Ansel reached on a swinging bunt, and he stole second with two outs when Drew Barshinger (Penn State Harrisburg) mistakenly delivered a pitch out of the windup.
Landon McAlpine (Mountain Ridge/Salem University) hit a ground ball to the second baseman, who made an off-target throw to first.
Ansel (Allegany), who was 2 for 3 with two runs, thought the throw got by the first baseman and was caught in a rundown between third base and home, but the Northeastern catcher dropped the ball to allow the tying run to score.
Myles Bascelli (Allegany) led off the sixth with a walk, and Madden (Allegany) placed a perfect bunt down the third-base line.
This time a Northeastern throw did get by its third baseman, putting two runners in scoring position.
Up stepped Ferraro (Garrett College) with one out, just needing to elevate a ball to the outfield to give Fort Cumberland the lead.
He sent the first pitch deep enough to center field, and a tagging Bascelli crossed home to put Post 13 up 3-2.
“Parker came through. He didn’t hang his head when he got taken off the bump,” coach McAlpine said. “I told them when we lost, we’d still be here Sunday. They believed it.”
Northeastern proved why it won its first three games of the regional, refusing to quit and loading the bases with nobody out in the seventh.
Fort Cumberland brought its infield in on the advice of assistant coach Donny Bradley, and shortstop Bryce Madden (Allegany/Glenville State) recorded the first out on a fielders choice to catcher Carson Bradley (Mountain Ridge/Allegany College) at the plate.
Wilhide (Bloomsburg University) then hit a rocket to Ferraro at third base and he turned an unassisted double play to stun Northeastern.
“The play felt like it was in slow motion honestly. The ball looked like a balloon coming to me,” Ferraro said. “A weight was lifted off my shoulders being in that stressful of a game. The most important game of the season so far.”
Ferraro’s play also secured the win on the mound for Kohen Madden, who started the game at third base but was given the ball with Post 13 trailing 2-0 in the second inning.
Madden responded with five-plus scoreless frames in which he allowed five hits, struck out one and walked one.
“Get the ball across the plate, let my defense get behind me and do their job,” he said of his mindset on the mound.
Fort Cumberland’s gloves did their job and more.
Post 13 turned double plays in the second, third and seventh innings.
Right fielder Caedon Wallace (Allegany/Allegany College of Maryland) made a game-saving grab in the fifth.
With Northeastern already ahead 2-1 in the top of the fifth, Conner Rippo, the No. 1-ranked outfielder in the Class of 2025 in Pennsylvania, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.
Rippo, committed to Division 1 New Jersey Institute of Technology, ripped a long fly ball to right field, and Wallace made a running grab on the warning track to rob a likely bases-clearing extra-base hit.
Bryce Madden also saved a run earlier in the inning by making a diving stop on a Wilhide grounder up the middle to keep the ball in the infield.
Post 13 tied the game in the next half-inning and took the lead a frame later.
“The defense played exceptional as usual,” coach McAlpine said. “Wally had a big catch out there. Bryce saved a run on the dive. … And then that last inning was crazy.”
Barshinger, a LHP, went the distance for Northeastern and took the loss, allowing three runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks in six innings pitched.
Fort Cumberland plated its maiden run in the third inning on a Landon McAlpine RBI single, the third of three straight line drive knocks. Madden and Ansel accounted for the first two.
Northeastern took advantage of two walks in each the first and second innings to lead 2-0.
An error on a possible inning-ending double play in the first frame let Ryan Wilson score from second base, and Nathan Moser (Elizabethtown College) hit an RBI single in the second.
But Kohen Madden kept Northeastern off the scoreboard the rest of the way, and Post 13 added another chapter to a storybook run thanks to Ferraro’s late-game performance.
2024 American Legion Mid-Atlantic Regional
All games at Joe Cannon Stadium, Hanover
Wednesday’s Games
Game 1 — Wheeling 5, Rome, N.Y. 1
Game 2 — Brooklawn, N.J. 5, Quakertown, Pa. 4
Game 3 — Fort Cumberland 3, Del Vets, Del. 0
Game 4 — Northeastern, Pa. 8, St. Mary’s, Md. 4
Thursday’s Games
Game 5 — Del Vets, Del. 12, Rome, N.Y. 2 (Rome eliminated)
Game 6 — Quakertown, Pa. 12, St. Mary’s, Md. 6 (St. Mary’s eliminated)
Game 7 — Wheeling, W.Va. 16, Fort Cumberland 5
Game 8 — Northeastern 7, Brooklawn 5; game suspended in 5th inning due to curfew
Friday’s Games
Game 8 — Northeastern, Pa. 20, Brooklawn, N.J. 10
Game 9 — Fort Cumberland 3, Quakertown, Pa. 0 (Quakertown eliminated)
Game 10 — Del Vets, Del. 7, Brooklawn, N.J. 4 (Brooklawn eliminated)
Game 11 — Northeastern, Pa. 4, Wheeling, W.Va. 1
Saturday’s Games
Game 12 — Del Vets, Del. 5, Wheeling, W.Va. 0 (Wheeling eliminated)
Game 13 — Fort Cumberland 3, Northeastern, Pa. 2
Sunday’s Games
Game 14 — Fort Cumberland Post 13 (24-7) vs. Del Vets Post 1, Del. (19-6), 1 p.m.
Game 15 — Winner of Game 14 vs. Northeastern, Pa. (23-5), 4 p.m.