With Lake Norman Post 509 forfeiting its final two games, all Hickory Post 48 had to do to guarantee its spot in the Area IV playoffs was defeat host Rutherford County Tuesday night.

    Rutherford County won 7-2, dropping Post 48 into a tie with Taylorsville for the final Western Division playoff spot. Now Post 48 must wait until Sunday for a decision to be made on how to break the tie.

    Knotted up at 2-2, Post 423's Taylor Deaton hit a two-run home run in the fifth to put Rutherford County ahead for good.

    Hickory was held to five hits on the night — Casey Rowe had two of them — and Matt Kelly was charged with the loss in Post 48's regular season finale.

    Rowe drove in a run and Chris Reynold's RBI sacrifice produced Hickory's two runs.

    Now Post 48's playoff fate lies in the hands of a tiebreaker with Taylorsville Post 170. Area IV coaches and commissioners will meet at the American Legion Fairgrounds on Sunday at 6 p.m. to set pairings and to determine what the tiebreaker will be between the teams.

    The teams split the regular season series, with each team winning at home. Post 48 lost at Taylorsville 14-7 on May 31, and it defeated Post 170 12-4 at Henkel-Alley Field on June 25.  

    The Area IV playoffs are set to begin Monday night, interdivision-style, with the No. 1 Eastern seed hosting the No. 8 Western seed, and so on.

    The state playoffs will be held at Sims Legion Park in Gastonia, and will run Aug. 5-9.

    On Tuesday, Lake Norman Post 509 said it was forfeiting its final two games — a doubleheader at Henderson County originally scheduled for today — due to a lack of players.

    The River Pirates had a one-half game lead over Hickory for the eighth and final Western Division playoff spot prior to Tuesday's games.

    After Post 509 started the season strong, winning five of its first six games, the River Pirates won only one game the rest of the way — a 14-12 win over visiting Mooresville on June 5. They end the season 6-16 overall, and 3-15 in Area IV play.

    The team, with began with 15 players, lost Zack Hamby earlier in the year because he left for the Air Force, and vacations, injuries and camps were some of the reasons McRee stated others from the original team could no longer play.

    The River Pirates compensated with players from Bunker Hill and Maiden's junior legion team, or 'B' team, but once the junior legion playoffs began, McRee said those players became ineligible.

    "We just kind of ran out of people," McRee said.

    He said the team could have kept playing, and made its playoff push, but already at the limit of eligible players, an injury or illness would cause the River Pirates to forfeit anyways, thus possibly costing Hickory or Taylorsville a chance at the playoffs.

    "They [Hickory and Taylorsville] are better suited for the playoffs at this time than we are," McRee said.

    He said this is the first time in the team's 15-year history it has had to forfeit a shot at the playoffs, but added that those who filled in from the junior legion teams will all be eligible for the senior team next season.

    "We're looking forward to regrouping next year," McRee said.

—O-N-E sports editor Ryan Herman contributed to this report.