It was just one of those days. South Richmond, considered to be the favorite to win the Mid-Atlantic American Legion tournament, never was able to get things right yesterday. It fell 18-2 to Mount Airy, Md., ending its season two games short of the World Series. A glance at the box score shows what went wrong—10 walks, six errors, four hit batters and a missing clean-up hitter. It was too much to overcome.

AMERICAN LEGION
  SATURDAY
Boyertown, Pa., 4, Rensselaer, N.Y., 0 (Renssalaer eliminated)  S outh Richmond 15 , New Castle, Del., 2 Mount Laurel, N.J. 11, Mt. Airy, Md. 8 YESTERDAY
Mt. Airy, Md. 18, South Richmond 2 (South Richmond eliminated) Boyertown, Pa., vs. Mount Laurel,

AMERICAN LEGION
  Friday
New Castle, Del., 11, South Charleston, W.Va., 0 (South Charleston eliminated)  Boyertown, Pa., 5, Morgantown, W.Va., 3 (Morgantown eliminated)  Mt. Airy, Md., 13, Rensselaer, N.Y., 1 Mount Laurel, N.J., 11, South Rich-  mond 9
  Yesterday
Boyertown, Pa., 4, Rensselaer, N.Y., 0

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—In a 15-2 romp, the biggest winner yesterday was, of course, South Richmond. But in a close second might be VCU. The Rams picked up two commitments this week from the South Richmond Post 137 team, which after a setback Friday resumed its dominance yesterday afternoon by run-ruling New Castle, Del. The team plays again today at either 1 or 7 p.m., with the chance to advance to the American Legion Mid-Atlantic final and potentially a second-consecutive Legion World Series appearance.

AMERICAN LEGION
Thursday
Rensselaer (N.Y.) 12 New Castle (Del.) 2 Mount Laurel (N.J.) 17, Boyertown (Pa.) 10 Mt. Airy (Md.) 11, South Charleston (W.Va.) 10 South Richmond 7, Morgantown (W. Va.) 2 Yesterday
New Castle (Del.) 11, South Charleston (W. Va..) 0 (7) Boyertown (Pa.) 5, Morgantown (W. Va.) 3

South Richmond catcher Chris Ayers, who will play for VCU in 2010, singled and stole second in the fifth inning. VCU-bound Blake Hauser threw five shutout innings for South Richmond before surrendering eight earned runs to Mount Laurel, N.J., in the sixth inning. MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—It was the game everybody came to see, and it didn’t disappoint.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.—In the crisp mountain air, when the sun goes down the temperature drops immediately. And that made Alex Mait’s shower from the Gatorade cooler that much colder. Mait wasn’t around for last year’s run by South Richmond Post 137, but he’s made his impact felt this year. He was perfect at the plate yesterday as the team defeated host Morgantown 7-2 in the American Legion Mid-Atlantic Regional, then saluted Mait with a postgame dousing.

AMERICAN LEGION
Yesterday
Rensselaer (N.Y.) 12 New Castle (Del.) 2 Mount Laurel (N.J.) 17, Boyertown (Pa.) 10 Mt. Airy (Md.) 11, South Charleston (W.Va.) 10 South Richmond 7, Morgantown (W. Va.) 2 Today
New Castle (Del.) vs. South Charleston (W. Va..), 9:30 a.m. Boyertown (Pa.) vs. Morgantown (W. Va.), 30 minutes after first game

High expectations can be a drag. Not for South Richmond Post 137 in the American Legion state baseball tournament at RF&P Park in Glen Allen. The reigning champions maintained that status for another year with a 17-9 victory over Albemarle Post 74 yesterday. South Richmond swept the tournament in four games and advanced to next week’s region gathering in Morganton, W.Va. Post 137 is the defending region champion as well.

Championship game
South Richmond 17, Albemarle 9
  Loser’s bracket final
Albemarle 14, Norfolk 10
  THURSDAY ‘ S GAMES
Norfolk 10, New River Valley 1
Front Royal 20, Arlington 7
S. Richmond 15, Albemarle 9
Norfolk 13, Front Royal 9
  WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
  Arlington 6, Glen Allen 0

Norfolk 2, Front Royal 0
  South Richmond 11,
  Gloucester 0
  Albemarle 15, New River 6
  Arlington vs. Glen Allen, ppd.
  WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
  Arlington 6, Glen Allen 0
  Front Royal 13, Gloucester 6
  New River 15, Glen Allen 0
  South Richmond 12, Norfolk 2
  Albemarle 21, Arlington 11
  YESTERDAY’S GAMES

With the 15-9 victory over Albemarle, South Richmond goes on to today’s 1 p.m. title game after a contest that featured a combined nine home runs.

Even with a comfortable lead, there was still motivation for South Richmond to keep the offense going. The players were ready to escape the heat. They did just that, wrapping up an 11-0 victory against Gloucester in seven innings as part of yesterday’s opening round of the American Legion State Championship at a scorching-hot RF&P Park.

A home run is not an easy feat at Douglas Freeman’s Ken Moore Field. But Chase Worthington wasn’t going to be bothered by the quirky dimensions or extra-tall fences. The top-seeded Colonial Heights Post 284-Pirates also weren’t an obstacle, as Worthington hit a three-run home run in the first inning, part of a six-RBI game that led No.4 Mechanicsville Post 175 to a 13-5 victory and into the American Legion District 11 finals.

Senior Cyrus Baird of Hermitage is one of many players called on to pitch for Glen Allen Post 244, which struggles to find enough pitchers to throw nine innings in as many as five games a week. Summer is associated with baseball, and for the area’s best high school players, it means American Legion baseball, a decades-old institution. But during the past few years, what has previously been the most competitive game in town has lost some of its edge.