Legion On The Field Tonight

I have to admit that Coleman Pitt Post 58 to date has surprised me in now standing at 5-3 on the season and 2-0 in division play.  Legion ball reflects how your high school teams fared and every team had a really good pitcher and then some throwers.  Those really good pitchers dominated in high school and now at the midway point in the season have done just as well in legion.  You know Legion is the next step up.  Not quite college but it is an all star team of the players from your area and what they can do against other all star teams.

Those of you parents that have been sold that bill of goods as the only way to get college coaches or the pros to look at your kids is travel ball Wednesday night there was a scout from the New York Yankees in the house.  He came to us, we didn't have to go to them.  So Legion is still very viable in kids who want to play at the next level of college or the extra special kid who could go pro right out of high school.

The last two games Post 58 pitching has allowed five  runs in which four  were earned in 25 innings. That is an ERA of 1.44.  Our defense has added help to pitching by getting an out on a ball headed for a hit but if this team continues to pitch and play defense the way they have the last five games we will be in every ball game.

If it has taken 25 innings to play two games and your team gave up only five runs then the real weakness of this team is it's ability to score runs themselves.  The hitting totals are improving each game but eleven hits Wednesday resulted in only three runs in 12 innings.  The hitting needs to get to where if the pitchers give up only three the seven runs we scored we were never in jeopardy of losing.  4-3 and 3-2 games could both have been losses if  it wasn't for the pitching and defense.

Contact when in the batters box is a key element to hitting.  Leadoff batter Josh Pittman looks like a slapper at the ball when he has batted both for the Gryphons this spring and P58 now. It just looks like there is no way he can hit the way he slaps at it. He has the knack to get on base with a slap to left field and he is a left handed batter.  He has speed and can beat out hits that start our as a simple grounder straight at a defensive player.  That speed it is hard to hit a ball in the air that he can't catch in the outfield.

In terms of Legion age this is a young team and most if they wish to do so and come back to Legion next year will be a year older.  Senior Legion is 17 and 18 year olds.  This team has as least two if not more that are still 16 years and we are very competitive with teams older than we are so the future is bright.

What did it mean for this year not to have a team last year. A couple of players could have been on this team last year.  Spencer Brickhouse from Bunn and a left handed pitcher from Roanoke Rapids.  Both players  Brickhouse for Wilson and the RR kid in Ahoskie.  Brickhouse of course is heading to ECU but is playing Legion in Wilson since he played there last year and they would have to sign a waiver in order for him to play for us and who in their right mind would give up a player of his statue because we didn't have a team last year.

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda that's spilled milk  and we won three of the four games played against those two squads this year so the guys we got must be pretty good too.  Our future continues tonight as Durham Post 7 will be at Legion Field at 7pm.  We need to score more runs but I can tell you one thing the last two games 4-3 win over Wilson in 13 innings and 3-2 victory over Apex in 12 innings is as good of ball as you can see any where.  Come see for yourself.