CARY — A blown seven-run, first inning lead was a distant memory by the time Will Smith stepped to the plate with the score tied, the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

And when Smith’s soft liner landed safely in short right field, Cary Post 67 had completed a lengthy comeback on an even lengthier night, downing Clayton Post 71, 17-16, to complete an unlikely three-game sweep in the two teams’ second round American Legion Baseball Area I Western Division Semifinal playoff series Wednesday night at Cary High School.

Cary moves onto face regular-season division champ Durham Post 7 in the best-of-five divisional championship, which begins Sunday night in Durham.

“The bottom line is we didn’t quit when we could have,” said Cary manager Neil Woodall. “We played hard until the bottom of the ninth.”

After a great start — a four-home run first inning, Post 67 spent the next seven innings falling behind Post 71. By the eighth inning, Clayton had built a 16-11 lead.

Percy Evans’ third home run of the night cut the lead to 16-12 in the eighth, then a wild sequence completed the comeback.

Michael Sondag and Hunter Carr drew walks to start the bottom of the ninth for Post 67, then Eric Brady reached on a single, loading the bases.

“We got a couple of walks and the guys started believing it could happen,” Woodall said. “This group just believes they can come through in any situation.”

Dylan Kipp drew a walk to force in a run, cutting the lead to 16-13, before Drew Woodall singled to left, scoring Hunter Carr.

On the play, Post 71 appeared to get a break when Kipp ran onto third base even though Brady was still on the bag. The throw to third base hit Kipp and bounded into the open dugout door, sending both Brady and Kipp — the game-tying run — across home plate. Woodall took third base on the play, moving the game-winning run 90 feet away.

Clayton manager Vic Bird elected to issue free passes to Evans and Brian Rhino, setting up force plays. But Smith came through, looping a ball just over the drawn in infield for a 17-16 victory.

It was Cary’s second win in the bottom of the ninth in the series. A Post 71 fielding error allowd the game-tying run to score in Game 1, setting up Chris Perry’s game-winning hit for a 6-5 Post 67 triumph.

Post 67 continued its home run binge in Games 2 and 3 of the series. After hitting six long balls in an 8-2 victory in Game 2, Cary reeled off four home runs in the first inning of Game 3.

The previous record for home runs in a season for Post 67 was 38. They’ve hit 54 so far this season, according to Woodall.

Evans led the Post 67 homer barrage, hitting two solo shots in the Game 2 victory, then adding three more home runs in Game 3. He was 4-for-5 with six RBIs in the series clincher.

Also going deep for Cary in the second game were Brady, Carr, Kipp, and Wyatt Medlin.

Carr led off Game 2 with a home run, which Brady followed. Evans’ first home run of Wednesday night’s clincher brought home three runs for a 6-0 lead. Medlin wrapped up the first inning barrage.

“They believe in what we’re doing at the plate,” Woodall said. “The guys have bought into [hitting coach] Clay Council’s hitting concepts. And they’re having a lot of fun at the plate.”

Clayton, which finished fifth in last year’s state tournament, hadn’t lost three consecutive games all season.

“This was a great three days for our guys,” Woodall said. “Clayton’s a solid team. To even think about sweeping them is unrealistic; it’s something else to actually do it.”