Legion Had Excellent Season.

The start was auspicious. Northern's playoff run went almost to June. Matt Bryan Post 58 head coach who is an assistant at Eastern Wayne played right up to the last game of the playoffs. Several scheduled games had to be cancelled or moved until finally the season got under way around the 5th of June.

Lost the very first game with by the ten run rule with only one practice as a team. There on this team play like champs.

I spoke early that I didn't see that the pitching staff was strong enough. I visualized that there would be playoff games where the ace of other teams would shut down our hitting and our pitching would not win the 5-4 or 3-2 playoff games which we didn't this past weekend.

If there was a strong point in Greenville it was our pitching. It was the hitting that lead us to a quick exit from the State Tournament.

You know we went further in the playoffs than what I thought we could, even the Cary series in which we saw better pitching than we had seen all year our hitting was better than their pitching.

Our hitting was not better than the two pitchers we saw in the State Tournament in Greenville.

When we look at the facts this team won four playoffs series. Three of them they won three games to none. In the only series to go five we were down zero games to two and came back and won the series. In fact game five we were down two runs in the bottom of the ninth and won.

So this team displayed magic and had a fine season at 20-6. Made it to the Area one finals for the first time since 1995 and back to the Championship finals for the first time since Post 58 won it all in 1973.

We can all complain of what could have been if all the all stars from this area had of played Legion ball. I think not having all of the all stars of the area really shows you how good this team was with what we had.

I enjoyed being th PA man following this team.

I think everyone should thank Joe Bell as he is the master mind behind keeping Post 58 alive with baseball. He didn't have a child on the team, but he was dedicated to keep it alive so when Spencer gets there next year there will be a team.

Without him there may not have even been a team this year to enjoy.

Midgets Finish Second In State-Legion Ousted

Facing the loser bracket on Sunday the Rocky Mount Midget (9/10 Year old Tar Heel Little League team) won their first game of the day beating Hickory 10-0 in a four inning game.

Logan Pearce and Landon Roup hit homers in the first inning that proved to be all the runs the Rocky Mount All Stars would need.

The advantage of being in the winners bracket is while others are out on the field playing in the hot sun just to be able to play in the next game the winners bracket team and in this case that was Lee County can just sit back in a motel room and wait in the air conditioning.

Beating Hickory gave the Rocky Mount Midgets the chance to play Lee County again and the results were worse that the 9-7 score yesterday. Lee county wins the State Tar Heel Midget Championship with a 11-0 win in four innings.

The Rocky Mount Midget all stars bring home a second place trophy.

Coleman Pitt Post 58 also found themselves in the losers bracket and the punishment for being in the losers bracket is playing on Sunday at Guy Smith Stadium instead of the brand spanking new 4,500 seat Clark-LeClair Stadium at ECU.

Guy Smith is the home of Rose High school and compared to Northern Nash which has short fences Guy Smith is even smaller.

I figured with the wind blowing out that the losing team would probably score ten today. Not so fast My Friend, as Shelby threw a submarine pitcher and Brandon Denton took the hill for Post 58.

The final score Shelby 3 and Post 58 2. Shelby hit two homers to Post 58 one. Each team had a two run homer and Shelby had a solo shot which was the difference.

Shelby hit their solo homer in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. There was a thirty minute rain delay while we were batting with two outs in the fifth inning. Once the game resumed Collins Cuthrell walked after having a three balls and one strike count on him when the rains came. Xavier Macklin then hit a home run which was last seen rolling toward Memorial Drive near the hospital and Post 58 lead 2-1.

Shelby would get all the runs they needed in the seventh when they got a single and then one of those bloop Guy Smith home runs and they took the lead 3-2. Post 58 got one single in the eighth and ninth but never threatened.

Adam Izokovic pitched complete game six hitter. Both days of this tournament Xavier Macklin got three of our six hits and hit a home run each day.

Brandon Denton went all the way for Post 58 which was eight innings and like yesterday for Alex Pearce the pitching for Post 58 was good but the other sides pitching was better. Denton gave up nine hits but walk only won batters. He struck out five but didn't get enough help from his hitting mates.

Post 58 finishes the season 20-6 and made it to the State finals for the first time in 36 years.

Midgets and Legion Lose

Today was a tough day for baseball in Nash-Rocky Mount area as both the Rocky Mount Midgets (9/10) year old all stars lose 9-7 in Erwin. In Greenville, Post 58 met maybe the best pitcher in the Legion tournament in Nick Lomascolo from the NCHSAA 3-A State Champs Lake Norman and lost 5-4.

The Little leaguers lead at one point 7-5 but were beaten in the winners bracket game 9-7. They will play again at 2.00pm Sunday against Hickory.

There are three teams left in Erwin and Lee County the team that beat Rocky Mount today will wait for the winner of the Rocky Mount- Hickory game. Who ever wins that game meets Lee County in the second game Sunday afternoon. Lee County wins it's all over or if the Rocky Mount/Hickory winner beats Lee County they will come back and play the championship game Monday.

In Greenville Alex Pearce got the start for Post 58 and Pearce walked a couple of batters and a critical error and one timely hit gave Mooresville a 2-zip lead in the first. The further Pearce pitched the better he got and he made it all the way to the first batter in the eighth inning.

Xavier Macklin lead off the bottom of the third slapping a line shot down the left field line for a double. Ben Fish hit a fly ball to left that was deep enough to get Macklin to third base. LoMascolo unleashed a wild pitch and Post 58 was on the board.

Up again in the bottom of the fifth Xavier Macklin hit a home run into the ECU Jungle minus the ECU students but regardless of how many were there the game was tied after five innings.

The opening batter of the eighth inning walked on four straight pitches and Matt Bryan took Alex out of the ball game. Bill Clark came in and the first batter greeted him with a swinging bunt that never traveled more than fifteen feet but was beat our for a hit. A sacrifice and a single and Mooresville lead 4-2. Another post 58 error allowed one more run to score to give Mooresville a 5-2 lead that held until the bottom of the ninth.

Xavier Macklin lead off with a single and Ben Fish follow that with the second home run of the game for Post 58 to cut the lead to 5-4. Two easy outs brought us to the last batter.

Dillon Cockrell had no balls and two strikes and somehow wriggled into a walk. Mike Smith got konked between the shoulders. Mooresville then made a pitching change. Mike Williams struck out on three pitches. There was magic in the ninth but not enough.

Lomascolo struck out fourteen Batters in pitching eight and two thirds innings. He allowed six hits and walked two and hit a batter.

Alex Pearce took the loss giving up just four hits and struck out four in seven innings, but he did walk six batters. Only two of Mooresville five runs were earned.

Post 58 plays at three pm at Guy Smith Stadium in the losers bracket against Shelby who lost 11-7 to Wimington.

Just before the start of the fourth game tonight there was an opening ceremony with all the teams on the field and there was to be a first pitch delivered. But during the ceremony one of the umpires who was line up like the players passed out on the field. Rescue came on the field and while they were working on the UMP a Player for Cherryville passed out. The fourth game was delayed more than a hour before the final game of the day got started between Cherryville and Greenville Post 39.

Even worse news to report as while the rescue was on the field a fight broke on in the stands and between1-3 fans were removed from the game depending on who's story you believe. All three fans regardless of how many were from Cherryville.

Last word that neither the ump or player was taken to the hospital.

Legion Hopes Ride On State Championship Experience

Friday afternoon in Erwin, the Rocky Mount Midget (9-10) Tar Heel Little League All-Stars remained unbeaten beating Cleveland County 11-4. This sets up a showdown at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon with Lee County in the winner's bracket game. The winner of that game will be in the drivers seat as the loser will have to come through the loser's bracket to win the state championship.

Saturday afternoon, American Legion Post 58 starts the State Championship Tournament which is the last possible state title for most of the players on the team, But for most, 13 in all, they have a roster full of baseball players who have for some several state championships in baseball.

It all started in 2004 when the Nash County 14-year-old Babe Ruth team won the state championship. Two members of this year's legion team played on that team: Alex Pearce and Grant Johnson.

The World Series that year was in Wilson and the host city and host state get automatic berths. That put Wilson's team in and winning the state championship, Nash County got to skip the Southeast Regional and went straight to Wilson.

That year, Nash County lost in the semifinals to Hawaii. That amounts to third place in the world.

What a big year 2004 was for Nash County as at the same time the 14-year-olds were playing, 13-year-olds were winning their age group state title. They followed that up with a regional win in Tallahassee, Fl. The 13-year-old World Series was played in Van Buren, Ak. where they also lost in the semifinals to Tri-Valley, Cal.

Members of that team on this Legion squad were Ben Fish, Dillon Cockrell, Xavier Macklin, Tyler Clark, Cameron Ramsey, Mike Williams and Gabe Brown.

Keeping the Babe Ruth run going, that same group that made it to the World Series in Arkansas as 13-year-olds and won the 2005 state title in Rocky Mount. The Southeast regional was played in Greenville, Tenn. and then they were flown by jet to Boston to play in the 14-year-old World Series in Quincy, Mass.

That tournament was highlighted by the extra-inning semifinal game with the team that knocked it out the year before Tri-Valley. Our chances of winning the World championship were hurt greatly in the extra inning win as Travis Ward had to use Saturday's starter Dillon Cockrell in the extra inning just to win the semifinal game.

The championship game we were beaten 7-2 by Jefferson Parrish, La. to finish second in the World Series.

We are not through yet as in 2006, the next year's group of 14-year-olds made it back to the World Series and once again, it was played in Wilson. Being the host state, Nash County once again won the State title and was an automatic qualifier to the World Series.

That team had Collins Cuthrell, T.J. Taylor, Brandon Denton and Mike Smith, who lost in the championship game to Citrus Valley, Cal.

Four World Series in three years, but the state titles are not over as Rocky Mount High School took the NCHSAA 3-A title in 2008. Members of this legion team who played on the 2008 state champs were Fish, Cuthrell, Ramsey, Johnson, Cockrell, Brown and Nick Hahula.

The only two Legion players who have never tasted a state title are Bill Clark and Ray Valezquez.

Is there one more state title to share? The final ride for the most begins Saturday afternoon at ECU. If experience has any thing to do with it, this team is loaded .

See you Saturday at the game.

Dillon Cockrell : three State titles, two Southeast Regional Titles and World Series a 3rd and a 2nd. Ben Fish: Three State Titles, two Southeast Regional and World Series a 3rd and a 2nd.
Cameron Ramsey: Three State titles, Two Southeast Regional and World Series 3rd and 2nd.
Gabe Brown: Three State titles, Two Southeast Regional and World Series 3rd and 2nd.
Xavier Macklin: Two State Titles, Two Southeastern regional and World Series 3rd and 2nd.
Tyler Clark: Two State titles, two Southeast Regionals and World Series 3rd and 2nd.
Mike Williams: Two State Titles, Two Southeast Regional and World series 3rd and 2nd.
Grant Johnson : Two State titles and a 2nd in World series.
Collins Cuthrell: Two State Titles and a 2nd in World Series.
Alex Pearce: One State Title and a 3rd place in World Series
T.J. Taylor: One State Title and a 2nd in World Series.
Mike Smith: One State title and a 2nd in World Series.
Brandon Denton: One State Title and a 2nd in World Series.

All told, 22 state titles and 14 regional crowns are among them.

Oh, by the way, if Post 58 wins the state title, the Southeast Regional is in Sumter, S.C. The American Legion World Series is in Fargo, N.D.

Rocky Mount Midgets Win Opener

The Tar Heel Midget 9/10-year-old Little League State Championships got under way tonight in Erwin. Erwin, the host team, was given an automatic spot in the state championships. Erwin, as the championship host, went head-to-head with Rocky Mount in the opening game as Rocky Mount ripped Erwin 12-1 in four innings.

Coach Wayne Pridgen used three pitchers in those four innings trying to save his pitchers inning totals for later in the tournament. Jacob Pridgen pitched the first two innings and he gave way in the third to Josh Daniels. Noah Shrock pitch the fourth and final inning that Rocky Mount had to play in the field.

Shrock led the hitting attack getting three hits. Logan Pearce collect two hits. I am sure there were plenty more, but this is all I know about.

There is little time for celebrations as they will have to travel right back to Erwin Friday afternoon for a 2 p.m second-round game.

Last night in the 61st Annual NCCA East-West All-Star Football Game in Greensboro, the East managed to score one touchdown on a 5-yard scamper by Chapel Hill's Steven Moore in a 6-0 victory. Rocky Mount's Nick Hahula had the game's only PAT attempt blocked.

In the second half, the East found running room behind Rocky Mount's Torey Lee as almost every run in the second half was behind "Pork Chop". Due to a low scoring game, Hahula punted six times in the game and had just under a 32-yard average. His kickoff following the touchdown sailed in the end zone like more than half of his kicks did for the Gryphons last season.

The American Legion teams will start to gather in Greenville Friday. Six of the eight teams will bed down in motels in Greenville, while the home team Post 39 and the Area I champ Post 58 will ride back and forth each day.

There is a dinner tomorrow night where all the teams will be honored for making it to the state championship.

Just got back from going over to Ben Fish's house and the Doughties picked up our Post 58 T-shirts that has a nice logo on the front that says "2009 Nash County Post 58." The back says "Nash County Coleman- Pitt Post 58 2009 Area I Champions." It lists all the players and coaches and down at the bottom, it has two shovels making it into a "Y" and says in big letters "YA DIG!"

This is, of course, in reference to the Babe Ruth 14-year-old team - a squad that many of these players were on and its assistant coach Jammy Mitchell had a shovel and told the guys to keep digging.

Thanks Ashley (Mama Fish) for getting the T-shirts together and I will be wearing mine Saturday and Sunday.

I hope this is no factor at all for us but the loser's brackets games on Sunday have been moved to Guy Smith Stadium. Instead of starting at 9.30 a.m. on Sunday, they will start at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the same time the winner's bracket games will be played at Clark-LeClair at ECU.

A win on Saturday against Mooresville will keep us at ECU Sunday.

Can Post 58 hit its way to a title?

All along this American Legion baseball season we have talked about this team being a hitting machine - a lineup of all-star hitters. Yesterday, Joe Bell sent out the stats on this team and the hitting numbers are unreal.

There are 13 players on this squad that batted at least 40 times during their 24 games to date. Not one of those players hit less than .300.

This team had a total of 330 hits in its 24 games. That mathematically works out to over 13 hits per game. Here is a figure that is out of this world. They had 271 RBI with 330 hits which is over 11 per game. That works out to .82 RBI per hit.

This team hit 47 home runs in 24 contests. That is a smidgen less than two per game.

The team batting average is .387. That is almost .400 for the entire team.

Ben Fish leads the way hitting nearly .500 at .489. Right on his heels is Collins Cuthrell at .486.

Xavier Macklin did not start playing until the last regular season game. He hit 10 homers to tie Ben Fish for the team lead. Macklin hit his 10 in 15 games.

Fish had 45 hits and lead the team with 45 RBI. If you look at Ben's high school career and now Legion ball, he may be the most clutch hitter I have ever seen. He is the all-time rbi king at Rocky Mount High. - man (Xavier Macklin) has 26 RBI in his 15 games.

Alex Pearce and Brandon Denton share the wins leadership having won five games each. Dillon Cockrell added four wins. Bill Clark, T.J. Taylor and Nick Hahula added two wins each.

This pitching staff improved every game. The entire season the defense gave up only 5.5 runs per game. If we had the ERA totals, I am sure that the staff ERA was around four per game.

Post 58 begins its quest for the second state title in Post 58 history Saturday afternoon at 4:30 against Mooresville.

ECU is not that far away. If you want to watch an entertaining team, then this could be it. None of us have any idea of how good the competition is. We may lose two straight and come home happy to have just made the tournament. Regardless, this team will be fun right to the end.

The midget 9-10 year old Little League All-Stars start their state tournament tonight in Erwin. They play at 6 p.m. Good luck to them.

Football is Just Around The Corner

The state's high school coaches are in Greensboro this week for the annual NCAA Coaching Clinic. This is where, if you looking a job in coaching, you want to be.

Tonight is the annual East-West All-Star Football game in Greensboro - the 61st edition. Those all- star games have expanded over the years from when it was just football and basketball.

Nick Hahula and Torey Lee are going to play tonight representing Rocky Mount.

Once the football coaches get back, the first day of practice is Saturday, Aug. 1. I wonder how many will wait and practice on Monday the 3rd? None I would suspect. You just can't afford to let anybody get a day of practice that you don't also get.

One of the great privileges of doing P.A. or radio or TV you run across people. This past weekend was one of those times.

When I arrive at a legion game to do P.A., I go to Matt Bryan to get of feel of what he is thinking. He will give me his lineup for the opening ceremonies. This is more for radio, but as the P.A. man I have a feel for who might not play and why. Then I will walk across the diamond to the visiting coach and he will give me his lineup.

Cary came to Northern Saturday night and pitching batting practice was Clay Council. That name may not ring a bell at all, but if you saw the 2008 MLB All-Star Baseball Home Run Derby at Yankee stadium, then you might remember it.

Council is the 71-year-old man who pitched to Josh Hamilton in that event. Council wore No. 14 for Cary. Cary is made up of players from Athens Drive where Josh Hamilton played. I had their lineup in hand and I went over to Mr. Council to say that I really enjoyed watching Josh hit those home runs off him last year.

Council, now 73, took five minutes to tell me what a thrill it was for him to be at Yankee Stadium, be in the locker room with Derek Jeter and Josh. His 15 minutes of fame turned into 45 with all the home runs that Josh hit. To top it all off, he had a ring on his finger that said "2008 MLB All-Star Game." I would say it was just like what all the players received. He sure was proud of that ring.

If Hamilton never does a thing in Major League Baseball again, I can say having Council pitch to him made one man very happy. Hamilton remembered where he came from.

Don Fish, with camera in hand, got a picture of me and Clay behind Cary's dugout. Thanks Don for having the camera there. I would have never thought of taking a picture otherwise.

The next time you go to the ball park, take a look around. You never know who you might see.