Capital One Bank first game starter Ryan Casassa pitched a complete-game, four-hitter in a 5-3 come-from-behind-victory and Shane Mullen went the distance in the second game also tossing a four-hitter in an 8-1 victory.
Capital One Bank (14-4 overall) finished 9-1 in legion play. Capital One will host the winner of Laneco Construction (Pope John Paul II), the second place team and Anytime Fitness (Pearl River High), the third place team, Tuesday night at 6 o’clock in the playoffs to determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for the upcoming Southeast American Legion Regional Tournament, which runs July 11-15 at Athletic Park in Ponchatoula. Eight teams will participate in the double elimination tournament.
  
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In game one Wednesday, Capital One’s Casassa (4-0) with an 0.78 earned run average, struck out five. He walked one and hit two batters en-route to the victory. Casassa finished the regular summer season with a team-high 27 innings, allowing just three earned runs, while giving up 18 hits. He struck out 31 batters, while giving up 13 walks.
Casassa said it was a tough victory with his club managing to pull it out. Casassa said his team did a good job coming back with four runs in the fifth inning.
“I was just hoping to throw strikes and let my team do the work in the field to finish the game off,” Casassa said.
“I was able to locate my fastball pretty well. My slider was also doing well for me. I got a little tired towards the end of the game, but I just had to fight through it,” Casassa added.
Post 16 starter Dylan Manichia (2-2) was cruising along with a one-hitter holding a 3-1 lead through four and a half innings before running into some control problems in the bottom of the fifth.
Manichia hit Andrew Brown with a pitch to open the inning. Dalton LaFrance replaced Brown as a courtesy runner and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Matt Ernst followed with a single, moving LaFrance to third. Ernst broke for second on a steal attempt and the catcher’s throw went into centerfield, scoring LaFrance to cut the Post 16 lead to 3-2. Ernst advanced to third on the error and scored on Tanner Watson’s RBI grounder to third. Anthony LaGuardia was hit by a pitch and David Fiegel singled him to second. Addison Melancon collected a single to load the bases.
Capital One’s James Cousin produced a first pitch two-run double deep to left field, plating LaGuardia and Fiegel to build a 5-3 lead, which proved to be the game-winning hit. Post 16 got out of further trouble with Casassa hitting a grounder to third base, which was fielded by Christian Clark, who threw to catcher Logan Booksh for a force out. With Casassa trying to advance to second, he was gunned down as Booksh fired a strike to shortstop Stuart Seiler, who tagged out the runner to finish the inning-ending double play.
Manichia said he felt good on the mound before running into trouble in the fifth inning.
“Hitting the leadoff batter hurt and I was unable to locate my pitches in the fifth inning,” Manichia said.
Manichia said the heat didn’t bother him and said his fastball was working for him. He allowed five runs on five hits in his five-inning outing with four of those hits coming in Capital One’s big four-run inning.
Post 16 touched Casassa for an unearned run in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Andrew Arceneaux reached on an error and Booksh got aboard after being hit by a pitch. Manichia helped his own cause with an RBI single past third base to score Arceneaux to give Post 16 the early lead. Casassa retired the next three batters in order to end the inning, trailing 1-0.
Capital One Bank tallied a run in the bottom of the first. LaGuardia was safe on a throwing error and advanced to second. LaGuardia moved to third on a ground out and came home on Melancon’s RBI grounder to third.
Post 16 manufactured a run in the fourth. Ben Condon stroked a one-out, stand up triple to right-center field. He scored on a wild pitch to give Post 16 a 2-1 advantage.
Clark walked, but was erased on a 4-6-3 double play.
Post 16 increased its lead to 3-1 with a run in the fifth. With two outs, Arceneaux was hit by a pitch. On a pick off attempt, the ball got past the first baseman with Arceneaux scooting to second. Booksh delivered an RBI single to center on a 2-1 pitch, scoring Arceneaux for the two-run lead. Casassa got Manichia to ground out to short to end the inning.
Post 16 reliever Clark replaced Manichia to open the sixth inning. Andrew Patin singled, but was thrown out at second on an attempted sacrifice bunt.
In the nightcap, Capital One Bank used the complete-game performance by Mullen (2-1) with a 1.67 ERA to earn the 8-1 victory with Cousin going 2-2 with two runs batted in and two runs scored.
Capital One tallied twice in the bottom of the first. LaGuardia, 2-4, with two runs scored doubled and eventually scored on a throwing error on Casassa’s grounder. Cousin produced an RBI double, plating Casassa.
Capital One increased its lead to 4-0 with two more runs in the third. Casassa walked and Cousin tripled him in. Cousin tallied the second run of the inning, scoring on a wild pitch.
Mullen allowed an earned run in the fourth inning. With one out, Post 16’s Manichia, 2-3, singled and Condon was hit by a pitch. Clark connected for an RBI single to score Manichia with his team’s lone run.
Capital One closed out the scoring with four runs in the sixth. Watson walked and was bunted to second. Watson moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on LaGuardia’s single.
Fiegel doubled, advancing LaGuardia to third. Casassa came through with a two-run double, plating LaGuardia and Fiegel for a 7-1 lead. The final run scored when LaFrance drew a bases loaded walk to force in a run.
Post 16’s Booksh started and went two innings, suffering the loss. Eddie Laine, Wes Harwell, Bubba Tomberlin and Thomas Sens pitched in relief as Post 16 was trying to save arms for a scheduled weekend tournament in Florida.
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