Jul. 23—SMITHSBURG — Fort Cumberland didn't just want to win a baseball game Monday, it wanted to prove a point.
Pitted against 10-time state champion Funkstown Post 211 in a winner-take-all playoff for a state tournament berth, Fort Cumberland jumped out to a 5-0 lead early, and Bryce Madden delivered 6 1/3 shutout innings to power Post 13 to a 7-0 victory at Smithsburg High School.
In past years, there was no play-in game. The Mountain District champion received an automatic bid to states, but it was removed this summer to allow for two teams from the neighboring district to qualify.
Fort Cumberland didn't express condemnation of the playoff much during the year — its performance Monday did all the talking.
"They didn't want us here," was manager Brian McAlpine's prevailing message following the conquest.
"We're going to play with that chip on our shoulder now because I feel, they didn't want us in it. They really didn't. We won our district, had to come down and play at pretty much their home field. Whether they say it is or isn't, five of their guys play on this field."
Ready or not, the state tournament will feature Fort Cumberland (16-6 overall, 9-1 district) — the defending state champion and 2022 runner-up — in its field this week.
The tournament is at Joe Cannon Stadium in Hanover beginning on Friday and runs until July 31.
Funkstown (18-8 overall, 13-5 district) never gave itself a chance Monday.
Starter Cam Mertz (North Hagerstown) walked the bases loaded in the first inning to set the stage for a Post 13 two-out rally.
Caedon Wallace took advantage, shooting a hard ground ball up the middle that spurted off the leather of a sliding Colt Tucker to plate two runs. Parker Ferraro then legged out an infield single to make it 3-0 Post 13 after one.
Mertz didn't make it out of the first inning, and Heath Githens (Smithsburg) ran into some trouble in his first frame of work, allowing RBI singles to Carson Bradley and Myles Bascelli to put Funkstown in a 5-0 hole after two innings.
Fort Cumberland's bats went cold over the next three innings, but it found two insurance runs in the sixth.
Steven Spencer led off the frame with a double down the left-field line, Madden plated him with a seeing-eye single up the middle, and Landon McAlpine scored another Post 13 run with his game-high third base hit.
"We kind of fell asleep in the middle innings," coach McAlpine said. "They came together and got a few more runs."
Those seven runs of support were six more than Fort Cumberland needed, as Madden delivered another big-game performance in a career that's had its share of them.
The right-handed Glenville State commit has struggled at times this summer, but he was his vintage self, taking a shutout into the seventh inning on an efficient 78 pitches.
Madden earned the win, allowing no runs on three hits with six strikeouts and one walk in 6 1/3 innings.
His methodical outing allows him to be eligible to start Fort Cumberland's first state tournament game on Friday.
"I never had any worries," coach McAlpine said of his starter. "He performed. He promised me the last time he pitched that he wouldn't have two bad outings. He stood up to what he said."
Kohen Madden retired the final two batters in relief to secure the victory.
Fort Cumberland out-hit Funkstown, 11-3. Landon McAlpine was the lone hitter with multiple hits, and he stole two bases. McAlpine and Bradley scored twice each. Josef Sneathen also doubled.
All three of Funkstown's hits were singles and no runner advanced beyond second base.
"Fort Cumberland played a great game," Funkstown manager Bobby Keller said. "Their pitcher threw well. He's a quality pitcher. We're young. We didn't execute.
"We didn't have our best game today, but that's how baseball goes sometimes."
Funkstown has a grievance of its own with the state, as Western Maryland District champion Boonsboro, which went 17-1 in the league, played the season with four players from Broadfording who are in the Funkstown district.
Those players have been ruled ineligible for the state tournament, for which Boonsboro has qualified, but Boonsboro won't have to forfeit any regular-season games and will still be the district's representative at states over Funkstown.
Through all the chaos, Fort Cumberland returns to the state tournament for the third year in a row.
It proved it belonged there Monday.
Now the goal shifts to extending the summer like the team did last year, when it captured its first state championship since 1976 and secured its first win in the district tournament since 1934.
"I coached a lot of these kids growing up," coach McAlpine said. "They'll be friends forever. They play for each other every game."
Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.
