One down and three to go.

The Post 80 baseball team topped Athens 5-1 on Thursday.

Three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the American Legion Post 80 baseball team from Covington County more than enough runs for a 5-1 win against Athens Thursday night at the American Legion Alabama State Tournament in Madison.

Justin Bracewell was the winning pitcher for Post 80. Bracewell pitched a complete game allowing one run on five hits and one walk in seven innings of work. He struck out three Athens batters in the victory.

Athens went on top 1-0 in the top of the second inning.

Post 80 rallied with one run in the bottom of the second inning to knot the score at 1-1.

Cole Sightler reached on a walk and came around to score for Post 80. Chaz Maloy drew a walk to move Sightler to second. Will Cammack kept the rally going with a sacrifice bunt to move Sightler to third.

Sightler raced home on a wild pitch to tie the score at 1-1.

Post 80 went on top 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning when Trevor Mathews motored around the bases. He reached base when he was hit by a pitch and moved to second when Drew Mims reached on an error.

Mathews scored when Tyler Wilson knocked him in.

The score remained 2-1 in favor of Post 80 until the bottom of the sixth inning when three insurance runs came in for a 5-1 lead.

Maloy, Cammack and Scotty McCraney scored in the sixth inning.

Maloy reached on a single. Cammack followed him and reached base when he was hit by a pitch. McCraney came up big with an RBI-single.

McCraney scored later in the inning on a squeeze play. Michael Dutton got down a bunt which allowed McCraney to use his speed and score from third base.

Post 80 was slated to play the Post 12 team from Skipperville Friday night. The result of the game was not available at presstime.

Skipperville won an opening round game to earn the right to play Post 80 in a winner's bracket game.

The Post 12 squad from the Skipperville area blasted the Post 237 team by a final score of 12-4 on Thursday.