When he broke his leg in March, N.C. State signee Rhett Johnson would find himself in a position of rehab and still finding a way to contribute to Wayne Country Day’s state championship season and Wayne County Post 11’s season.
Post 11’s non-conference matchup against the Lions of Hope Mills Post 32 on Thursday night would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 7th inning when coach Adam Pate would call on Johnson to grab a bat and try to get something started against a very stingy Lion pitching staff.
Johnson would take a 3-2 offering to left field off Hope Mills’ reliever Gavin Jones for a base hit to lead off the 7th. Wayne County (10-6) would quickly pinch-run Tanner Woodard for Johnson.
Woodard would steal second base and third base with 2 outs. Miles Hamm would deliver the game-winning single to center to give Post 11 the 1-0 walk-off win.
According to Wayne County assistant coach Matt Hare, after breaking his leg, Johnson has had to learn to run again. Although cleared to play by his doctors Johnson has been limited to a pinch-hitting role batting .375 while going 3-8 with 3 walks.
It was a pitching duel all night as both sides would keep each other from scoring. The Post 11 trio of Ayden West, Will Johnson and CJ Radford would match the effectiveness of Post 32 hurlers Chandler Garner and Jones.
Wayne County visits Florence, South Carolina on Saturday, to start a stretch of eight consecutive road games. Post 11 returns home at 7 p.m. on June 24 against Pitt County at Carolina Athletic Park.
