Round Four Begins.

The very beginning of the senior Legion season I have thought that the pitching was the weak link on this years team. Tonight Matt Bryan head coach of Post 58 had to use Diminutive center fielder T J Taylor to pitch in the opening game of the east Finals in the Senior American Legion Playoffs. Post 58 had to use everybody they had just to get past Wilson.

Tonight T J Taylor pumps life into a pitching staff that had few options as Taylor shuts out Cary Post 67 for six innings and Mike Williams finishes them off in the seventh as Coleman Pitt Post 58 takes down Cary Post 67 15-0 in a seven inning game.

You know things are going to go good for you when the first batter of the game hits a hot shot to third baseman Collins Cuthrell the ball rolls up his leg and over to shortstop Dillon Cockrell who throws the runner out at first. T J Taylor walked only one batter and allowed five hits in his six innings of work and only twice had two runners on in anyone inning.

Once again Post 58 had a bag load of hits getting fifteen and had help from nine free passes given to Post 58 hitters.

Ben Fish had four hits,winning pitcher T J Taylor hit another home run and a single and four rbi's. Dillon Cockrell ,Collins Cuthrell and Mike Smith had a couple of hits a piece. Xavier Macklin ,Cameron Ramsey, and Mike Williams each collect a hit.

Game two of the best of five series is Sunday Night at Cary High School in Cary. Post 58 is two wins from returning to the state championship tournament which they last played in 1995.

You would think Cary threw their ace in the first game since they have been off since Wednesday but I am not sure. When looking at our pitching staff so far in twelve playoff games we are 10-2 and our pitchers have been as good as any body Else's pitchers. Aluminum bats create runs and high scoring affairs and looking at the playoffs to date nobody has out hit us.

The Junior Legion tonight took on the Junior Legion team from Cary in Asheboro in the State Junior Legion tournament and Cary has had a rough night against teams from Nash County. The Rocky Mount junior legion white washed Cary in five innings 11-0 to advance to the winners bracket undefeated game tomorrow night.

Earlier in the day Nash Central had lost 8-4 to be eliminated from the same tournament. Hats off the to Nash Central team as they were a fill in team after Kinston was forced to forfeit their place in the state tournament and Nash Central took their spot and played well losing yesterday's game in extra innings. Brett Johnson's team didn't lose two straight by ten runs and come home quick but were very competitive in this tournament.

It's A Cell Phone World

Left town for a mini vacation to the Wilmington Area Thursday afternoon so I was out of pocket for both game four and five of the Senior Legion Third Round.

Don Johnson who seems to be every where was a constant phone call away What's the score now?

Around lunch time today Joe Bell called making sure I would be there tonight and to tell me about last night's games. Joe is in Asheboro with the Rocky Mount Junior Legion.

Brett Johnson Don's middle son is the coach of Nash Central Junior Legion team and Friday night in the bottom of the ninth Don was feeding Brett the play by play by cell phone and Brett was relaying the action to all of the people in the hotel lobby in Asheboro.

Senior Legion Post 58 down two games to one after Wednesday night's game punishes Post 13 Thursday 16-4 setting up last night dramatic finish.

Post 58 scores three in the bottom of the ninth to best Wilson 11-10. Their reward play again tonight. This time it is for the East title against Cary. The winner of this series goes to the State tournament in Greenville starting the 25th.

Post 58 used every available body to win last night pitching so who throws tonight is any one guess.

Game time is 7.00pm at Northern.

You know an amazing amount of work went into getting the field ready last night because of the late afternoon rain. If last nights game would have of been postponed Wilson would have been the winner due to a rule that if weather prevent a series from finishing on time the team that wins game one wins the series.

Friday Nash Central Junior Legion lost in extra innings 5-4 in their opening round game in Asheboro. This morning at 10.00am they lost in the loser's bracket 8-4 to be eliminated from the tournament.

Rocky Mount Junior Legion team won yesterday 8-3 and that sets up a winner's bracket game tonight at 7.00pm with Cary. Cary and Rocky Mount are the Tournament pre favorites. Cary has a ridiculous of like 44-2 and Rocky Mount is like 26-2

How odd can that be both Junior and Senior Legion teams play tonight at 7.00pm and play Cary.

Weather willing Senior Legion start round four tonight at Northern Nash.

There's No Place like Home

There is no doubt that Post 58 has a good hitting ball club this year. To say the least our group of all star hitters have feasted on the short fences of Northern Nash. Just looking at the old or new Yankee Stadium. I don't see any body wanting to remove Babe Ruth from the record books because of a short porch in right field.

When Post 58 puts a pitcher on the mound he is faced defending the short porch just as any pitcher is. Why do you think Post 13 had a rain out Monday at the small Fike High School field. Instead we played Tuesday in the spacious Fleming Stadium. With that in mind I would suspect Post 13 will play in the rain tonight just so the game can be played at Fleming if need be.

Post 58 remains alive in the third round of the East Area playoffs with a 32-5 thumping of Post 13. Demunitive center fielder T J Taylor hit three home runs including two in the third inning leading the way for Post 58. On the night Taylor was 4-5 three home runs and eight rbi's.

Trying not to let T J out do him Ben Fish was 4-4 with two homers and seven rbi's could of had eight but an error in the outfield took away a possible rbi.

Post 13 pitching yeilded 24 hits ,eleven base and balls and Post 13 defense created four errors and every error seemed to happen with the bases loaded to compound their problems.

Lost in all the hitting barrage was Alex Pearce's pitching. The three innings he pitched he gave up a solo home run walk only one and struck out two. Leading 25-1 after three inning Matt Bryan took Pearce out hoping to save him to pitch again this week and Nick Hahula pitched the next three innings not giving up any runs. Ray Valezquez pitched the seventh walked six batters and gave up a hit while allowing four runs.

Now let's talk about the third inning. Ahead 3-1 Taylor lead off with a solo home run to start the inning.Twenty five batters later a double play ended a twenty two run second inning which included 14 hits and seven walks and two errors. The first twenty five batters that came to the plate reached base. There was an out made on a force play but the batter reached base until the double play ended the 45 minute marathon.

Taylor and Fish had four hits but not to be out done Dillon Cockrell also had four. Tyler Clark and Cameron Ramsey had three hits. Mike Smith added a couple. Then Collins Cuthrell,Xavier Macklin, Grant Johnson and Nick Hahula all got hits.

Tonight game four is at Fleming Stadium and Post 13 has saved Justin Nygard to pitch in Fleming. There is a big question as to who will throw for Post 58 but I am guessing first game starter Dillon Cockrell will toe the hill for 58.

Regardless tonight is a hugh night for Post 58 to get game five back in Northern where in three games this years against 13 Post 58 has scored 53 runs.

I will be out of the loop until Saturday so go to the game tonight and hopefully again Friday. saturday will be my next blog.

Good Luck 58!

Future Still Bright for Nash County Baseball

Northern Nash and Rocky Mount high Schools have played at least to the Eastern finals in baseball three years in a row.

Both of those teams are losing major contributors to their success by way of graduation. If summer league baseball can be a barometer of the future then success should continue at the high school level.

Last night the Senoir Tar heel district finals were held in Zebulon and both of the Rocky Mount teams were playing for the right to go to the state championship in Valdese later this month.

Rocky Mount National had played through the losers bracket and met up for the second night in a row against Rocky Mount American.

Through three innings pitching dominated and a scoreless game was in progress. National got a hugh blow a grand slam home run from Linwood Jones in the fourth and Tyler King pitched a complete game shut out as Rocky Mount National advance to the state championship.

National had to win two double headers on Sunday and Monday even to get to the championship game.

Two of the most polished little league coaches anywhere in Sam Toler and Norman Chambliss along with George Carter and Mike Sanderford some how or other figured out who to pitch and when in order to survive the losers bracket.

The Tar Heel Midget 9/10 year old team from Rocky Mount is headed to the state championship after having beaten the other Rocky Mount team in the finals.

The Junior Legion team from Rocky Mount is the next years supply of players for Rocky Mount is headed to the state championship. That team is coached by the Jones Brothers who helped Pat Smith out with the varsity this past season.

Nash Central Junior Legion team is also headed to the state is Nash Central's varsity refill headed by "Baseball" Brett Johnson.

If there was any doubt about a fall off in baseball in Nash County don't worry.

Help is on the way!

Missed Opportunities

Coleman Pitt Post 58 find themselves in a jam now after suffering a 6-5 defeat tonight in Wilson to Post 13.

Post 58 had base runners in every inning except for the fourth inning. 58 had ten hits in the game but not one produced a RBI as their first four runs all came on fielders choices and the fifth on a pass ball by Post 13 catcher.

Post 13 got twelve hits eleven of those hits came of starter Brandon Denton who did and outstanding job holding 13 to six runs , like 58 13 had runners on in eight of the nine innings and seven of those innings they got the lead runner on.

Bill Clark came in to pitch the ninth after Denton gave up a single to start the bottom of the ninth but could not keep the lead off runner from coming around to score.

Kyle Shields a Southern Nash Product got the complete game win for Post 13.

They now have a two games to none lead in the series and and can sweep Post 58 Wednesday when they send their ace to the mound in Justin Nygard. 58 will counter with Alex Pearce.

Some what adding to Post 58 troubles is game four possible starter for Post 58 Nick Hahula leaves for the East-West all star high school football game Wednesday and would not be available to pitch Thursday if Post 58 gets the series back to Wilson .

Tyler Clark lead the hitting attack going three for four. Collins Cuthrell went o-5 but two of his outs produced runs. Mike Williams went one for four scoring a run on a fielders choice. Cameron Ramsey had a safety squeeze bunt driving in the fourth Run.

T J Taylor had two hits,Xavier Macklin a double as well as Ben Fish a double. Dillon Cockrell also had two hits.

Post 58 back is to the wall now and must win three straight games in order to play in the fourth round.

The next round looks as if cary is in command there. I have not heard the tuesday score but cary has a 2-zip lead after two games in that series.

Sportsmanship

There is a letter to the editor in the "Rocky Mount Telegram" this morning that everyone who has children playing ball needs to read.

I told you a couple of days ago of an incident that happened while our Babe Ruth 14 year olds were playing Saturday in Pitt County.

I have heard all kinds of excuses as to the raw deal we were getting from local fans during this game.

You have seen if you are a regular reader of my experiences growing up. I think I was about ten years old and we were playing Legion ball in Benson. Their stadium then had a wooden fence that ran around the whole stadium so as bat boy I had to chase foul balls that left the stadium during batting practice.

I would come back into the ticket booth area to get back in and I would show the man taking up tickets the ball and he would let me back in. Each time he would say something like let the boy in he's from Ahooskie or he's the Ahockey bat boy.

When I got home that night I thought it was funny and told my father about the ticket taker. He told me that he was making fun of me and I needed to expect that kind of treatment if not worse every time we went to someone Else's place.

He told me I needed to be on my best behavior because I represented the American legion, the legion team and the town of Ahoskie whenever we went off to a game. Most of all I represented what he had taught me and my actions were a direct link to him in any misbehavior on my part. I also knew what that meant that I could expect a whipping if I misbehaved.

I would suspect our crowd at the game Saturday would have had a different perspective if we had of been winning 11-3 instead of losing by that score.

There is a quote from that famous quoter Anonymous that says: "A man has no more character than what he commands in a time of crisis".

Down 11-3 in Babe Ruth baseball is a crisis. But it is nothing more than a game.

The character of every person who supports sports in general in Rocky Mount and Nash County have be vilified by the actions of people who took winning at all cost to a new level.

Babe Ruth Baseball in Nash County has taken a severe blow due to some very undisciplined coaches and parents.

I have no idea whether the writer of the letter had a player on Pitt county's team or not. I don't see anything written by the man from Bethel that was not the truth.

In Tar heel senior little league district action last night the national league team from Rocky Mount beat Zebulon in the 6.00pm and turned around and beat The rocky Mount american team in the night cap.

That sets up a winner take all tonight between the Rocky Mount national and Rocky Mount american league all stars. The winner get to go to the state tournament in Newton the loser the season is over.

Legion baseball tonight 7.00pm Fleming stadium in Wilson. Game Two Wilson/Nash County.

Post 58 Washed Out

6.45pm this evening I was at Fike High school expecting to watch the second game of the the area one finals.

Seems I missed the e-mail sent our at 3.41pm this afternoon notifying everyone of the rain out. I go to work at day break so I get off mid afternoon. All is not lost as if there was one good part of the trip to Wilson was Parker's Barbecue.

The home team has control of the game until the umpires take over when the lineups are exchanged just before the game. Once the umpire has control they are the ones who decides when a game is washout or rain delayed or keep on playing.

There were plenty of times today when I had doubts whether this game would be played or not and if I had not been by Fike high school I would not have questioned the rain out.

Having been there there was no reason not to play. The field was in excellent shape. They had a tarp over the pitching mound and the infield looked as if it had just been water down Just after taking infield.

Maybe Post 13 took advantaged of giving their next two pitchers scheduled to pitch an extra day of rest? Remember as the home team they can make a rain out even when there is not one no questions asked.

Even though Post 58 lost last night they left Wilson with the impression that pitching had better be there for 13 because Massey had a five hitter going in the 8th inning and Post 58 still put up nine runs.

Post 13 had one of there best hitting nights of the year and it was almost not enough. Post 13 soundly beat Post 58 but the eighth and ninth innings left a lasting impression on Wilson. There is no lead too big against 58.

Post 13 pitching does get an extra day of rest but so does 58. I have no problem at all with the gamesmanship if that is what Post 13 has done making a rain out when they could have played.

My question is what happens if a real rain out happens as this series has to end by Friday night. We may be forced to play a double header in order to finish on time to start the east Finals Saturday

By the way both #1 seeds lost last night as Cary beat Durham 9-3 in their opening game.

Game two is now set for Tuesday night now at Fleming Stadium in Wilson. I was very disappointed in the crowd Sunday night. I know most folks thought the first game was Monday but I expected twice what actually showed up.

Support Post 58 Tuesday Night In Wilson Unless there is a rain out. Man made or not

News Flash: Friday night the Rocky Mount Junior Legion team qualified for the state tournament to be held in Asheboro starting Friday. Nash Central team was eliminated on Saturday. Sunday comes word that the team Kinston a team that qualified has been ruled ineligible because of two players being too old for Jr. Legion. Nash Central will go to the state tournament starting Friday in Asheboro.