Laurel athlete helps Wakefield team to State final

WAKEFIELD - Last week’s article about Laurel-Concord-Coleridge kids playing baseball for other teams, accidentally omitted someone.

Tanner Thompson played baseball for Wakefield because there was nowhere to play in his hometown.

Thompson’s decision helped lift his Post 81 team in Wakefield to the state Senior American Legion title game, and he played a huge part in that effort.

Thompson took the mound and over five innings, allowed just six hits while striking out four in a 7-6 win to get past Pender before Post 81 took care of Palmer-Wolbach-Greeley in the semifinals, 5-3 to advance to the finals against perennial powerhouse, Malcolm, which had won the prior two Senior Legion State Titles.

“Tanner was a huge part of what we got done here over the weekend,” long-time Wakefield coach Paul Eaton said. “It does take a team and Tanner came through when we needed him.”

In the game against the Pender Post 55 Seniors, Thompson went 2-for-4 at the plate and went 1-for-2 the first time Post 81 played Macolm and lost 9-2 while scoring one of the two Wakelfield runs.

All-in-all, Thompson had a great tournament after taking an 8-4 win in the Area Tournament back on July 27 to defeat Wisner-Pilger/Dodge-Howells 8-0 to advance to state before tossing the game against Pender to eliminate Post 55 and keep the Wakefield hope’s alive.

“He really came through for us at the end of the season,” Eaton said. “He’s a good player.”

Thompson is the son of Dustin and Alissa Thompson .