Shift In Have To Do's

There was a time in my life when I felt in order  to be a good sports announcer I needed to watch every game that was in season.  That was thirty years or more ago and I have over the years settled into watching only the teams I care about or players who I either know or have a personal interest in.

I use to watch NASCAR regularly and pulled for Ricky Rudd because I met him at  a Jaycee meeting one night when he was the speaker.  I am a Philip Rivers fan due to his State connection and he had classes with my son Brooks.  I watched parts of some of the NBA playoffs but the brand of basketball played by the NBA bores me and I don't think I watched a complete quarter without moving on to something else.

Last night was one of the few times in my life I didn't see one out recorded during the All Star game played in Kansas City.  I flipped the dial once and when it was 5-0 in the first inning I never went back again all night.  I don't have any personal connection with any player and if I was going to watch it would have been to watch Josh Hamilton, but already down  5-0 I didn't want to watch that badly.

It will be interesting now that Morgan has graduated from Rocky Mount High to see how much effort to go to games will be.  Now that Morgan is manager of the Campbell Volleyball team we are already looking at weekend trips to tournaments for the Fighting Camels.  I will be back to do the PA f or JV football but right now our focus is shifting 75 miles away.

If the Lord is willing and he lets the sun shine Coleman Pitt Post 58 will start the first round of the baseball playoffs at Home Thursday night at 7pm at Gryphon Stadium.  We have reach the time where this could be the last home game of the year if they were to get swept by a 2-11 team.  Regardless of how many  they have left or wind up playing for the rest of the playoffs the next game could always be the last.  So why not got out to the old ball park Thursday night as baseball is close to being over in the area until fall ball.

2012 Legion Playoffs Set

Rocky Mount has a home playoff game at Gryphon Stadium Thursday night against New Bern.  Post 58 the #1 seed from the Northern  Division of Area One East will play The #4 from the Southern in 2-11 New Bern.  Rocky Mount won 75% of their games this year are 18-6.  This opening game is always very important in the Legion playoffs as the winner of game one wins the tie breaker should weather not allow a team to have won two games by the end of Sunday.

Let's say New Bern upsets Rocky Mount Thursday and Rocky Mount won game two but both Saturday and Sunday games were rained out then New Bern wins the tie breaker.  Game three will be played in Rocky Mount so you  would think Hank Jones will do everything possible to play Sunday even if the meant having to play Sunday morning and wait all day if need be.

We are in the same bracket with Pitt County who is the #2 from the South.  Rocky Mount split with Pitt during the regular season.  PC is 12-5 on the season and will match up against Ahoskie who swept Windsor Friday and Saturday night in three games to earn the #3 spot from the North.  Ahoskie's regular season record finished at 9-15 but they were 8-7 in league play which is the first time that they have had a winning conference season since they returned to Legion play in the mid 90's after not sponsoring Legion ball for some 30 years.

The two winners from this bracket will start play Monday night at the highest seeded team that is still alive and we certainly hope that is in Rocky Mount.  So game one is in Rocky Mount Thursday and if needed game three would be here Saturday.  Then if P58 is still playing game one in round two would but Monday night at home.

The other bracket has the #1 from the Southern Division Wayne County 11-6 hosting the #4 from the Northern which is Edenton and their record is 5-9.  Wilson Post 13 #2 seed from the North will host Kinston the #3 from the Southern and the two series winners meet starting Monday in round two.

 The two winners from both round two series begins round three a three out of five series with the winner heading to the State Tournament .  Round three starts July 20th and there is a round four but if you win round three you are headed to Lenoir and the State Tournament.  That round four series will be against the West champion which is all the Triangle area teams that are in Area one but they too will have already qualified for the State Tournament.

Another Home Game Gone

The final regular season game  for Coleman Pitt Post 58 was lost by 4PM Monday afternoon.  Yes it was hot but not a rain drop any where to be scene.  The past few years Post 58 has had a bad habit of not getting return games with teams who are scheduled for a home game and an away game.  Last week they lost a home game with a very good Wayne County team for possible legit reasons conference games are more important and tonight no game with Apex after we went there Saturday.  Yes as I write this tonight near 9PM the bottom is falling out outside so any game would probable not gotten past the 6th inning anyway but six innings constitutes an official game.

Just might be that over the years Rocky Mount is a tough place to come get a win as P58 is 10-1 at home this year while they are a very good 8-5 on the road.  Hank Jones has not had any fear of any team since he has been to perennial powers Rowan County and Cherryville  and a very good  Wayne County team where they played four  games between them.  Only one has been here Wayne County.  Between those four teams P58 is1-4. 

The playoffs begin Thursday night at home against New Bern who was our first round foe last year who decided to forfeit and never came here and P58 advanced to the second round with out throwing one pitch.  Despite getting the easy advance to round two New Bern did not do P58 any favors getting  a week off  and rusty while everyone else got into the playoff mode.


New Bern so far this year has won only one game while losing 13 times. This is a two out of three so if P58 shows up Thursday and Friday they should take New Bern out in two games.  Monday the 16th starts round two.  A home game Thursday and a trip to New Bern Friday could end round one  and a couple of days off to get ready for round two.

Jeremy Sloop has been P58 best Pitcher and I would suspect he will get a few innings in Thursday  until P58 has control of the game and then there will probably be a carousel of pitchers until, the series is over.  I would think Sloop will be the starter next Monday night in round two when a much better quality foe comes to town.  Funny thing about sports of course we are almost giving P58 the first round but I think we all know that P58 has to come out focused or they could get in deep trouble early.  Some times teams that are suppose to win dig such a deep hole that they never crawl out of the hole and wind up going home before they thought they would.

Nash County Babe Ruth Knocked Out

Sunday afternoon Nash County 13U Babe Ruth team played for the District title in Farmville and was beaten for the second time by the same team from Greenville.  Today's game was 9-3 and for the weekend the 13u team goes 2-2.

Also in Farmville was the 14U tournament  and if you read me last night I told you they were playing then to be able to play for the championship in 14U if they could win last night.  Last night's game did not start until 10PM and an 11:30 curfew they had to stop last night and go back today and play an inning and a half and lost.  Seems as if there was a major scheduling problem as the 14U team had played at 10:AM Saturday and did not play again until 10PM while the 13U Nash County team played back to back games Saturday afternoon while the 14U watched.

About a week ago I told you that I needed to find out what the word was on Xavier Macklin.  I had heard he was injured and I did confirm that at the last Legion home game against Pitt County with little brother Khalil.  Khalil confirmed for me that X while throwing a ball back towards the infield during spring training tore ligaments in his elbow and underwent Tommy John Surgery.

Those of you non baseball fans, Tommy John a pitcher back in the 70's was already a veteran pitcher for the White Sox when he tore his elbow ligaments while pitching and Dr James Andrews the famous sport doctor took ligaments from Johns leg and put them in his elbow and he pitch for at least another ten years or so after his rehab.

It is almost unheard of for an outfielder like Xavier to have this kind of injury because this is a basic pitchers injury.  Still rehab for a pitcher takes a full year  and even as an outfielder I doubt X makes it back on the field this year  for the Oakland A's.

Also Lets look and what Brian Goodwin is doing in Hagerstown for the Washington Nationals.  He is hitting 316 with six home runs 32 rbi in fifty games.  Those are really good numbers for a top prospect for the Washington Nationals.  Where do you think Brian goes from here?  You must remember that Washington is leading the National League East Division and the trading deadline is July 31st.

A couple of situations could develop for Brian.  He could get called up to  AA because they trade some of their top AAA prospects in order to solidify their major league club in Washington for the stretch drive.  AA players would then move to AAA making room for Brian.  He could just as easily just move up to see if he can do just as good at the next level. Who knows he could easliy be trade bait himself since he is proving that he will not stay in the lower minors long.  I suspect by the end of July Brian will be out of Hagerstown one way or the other.

Don't forget Post 58 Legion's last regular season home game is Monday night at 7:PM against Apex.

Apex Bops Post 58

Coleman Pitt Post 58 American Legion team spent a hot night in Apex tonight playing baseball and by the end of the seventh inning Apex had secured a 16-3 victory of P58. 

Since the return from the high school graduation break which is almost a month P 58 has lost only twice.  Both were by double digits.  In fact four of P58 losses on the season have been big time double digit losses.  The good news since during that same time span they have won 12 games and even after tonight's loss stand at 18-6.  The regular season ends Monday night for P58 when Apex comes to Gryphon Stadium.

Post 58 begins the playoffs Thursday night against New Bern and it is a two out of three. New Bern  looks as if they will be the #4 seed  from the Area One East Southern Division. Should they advance from there the second round is another two out of three that starts on July 16th.  If they are still alive by round three that series jumps to a three out of five.  If they win that one they are headed to the state tournament but there is one more series  before that and that would be against the Area one West winner but they too would also already be in the State Tournament that starts August 1st.

Both of Nash Counties Babe Ruth 13U and 14U teams are playing in district play in Farmville this weekend.  This afternoon the 13u team lost 19-2 and had to turn around and play again and won tonight so they play for the 13U district title at 3PM Sunday.  The 14U team is playing as we speak and if they win they are in the finals of the 14U on Sunday afternoon.

Our household spent Friday and most of the day today in Buies Creek as Campbell University held their orientation day for incoming freshman.  Our baby bird in this house flies from the nest on August 5th.  Students don't arrive until August 19th but Morgan will be one of the managers for the Campbell Volleyball team and practice begins on the 5th.

She got measured for all the different warmup suits and volleyball gear that players wear she gets too.  All of a sudden our house has gone from blue and gold to Orange and black overnight.

All Star Teams Continued

Today will will give you the list of the Midget 9-10 old National League all stars and both  the Little league 11-12 teams:

National League Midgets  9-10 year old All Stars.

Aaron Angel representing the Rays.  Hunter Bailey from the Orioles.  Conner Davenport  the second Ray on the team.  Colby Freeman from the Braves.  Colin Legaj comes from the D'Backs.  Also from the D'Backs Brock Leonard.  From the Braves Andrew Lewis. Another Brave Foster McAdams.  Even another Brave Conner Powell.  Austin Ramsey represents the D'Backs.  Woodall Rose is from the D'Backs.. Austin Summerlin  from the Rays and Logan Wall make up the National League Midgets.

The coaching staff is lead by Johnny Ramsey along with Scott Rose, Paul Legaj all from the D'Backs and Ivey Powell from the Braves.

The American League 11-12 year old Little League All Stars:

Matthew Dickerson who hails from the Marlins.  Eli Ess from the Athletics.  Representing the Braves Cody Fuller.  Another Brave Aaron Gerlach.  From the Athletics Garrett Killebrew.  The Marlins also have Dylan King.  The Yankees have two reps Joshua Pittman and Matt Raynor.  Tyler Sherrod comes from the Braves.  Will Stewart played for the Marlins.  Caleb Whitaker was another Yankee.  Trey Whitley hails from the Athletics.

The coaching staff is Jeremy Stewart from the Marlins.  Don Whitley and Tim Killebrew from the Athletics

The National League 11-12  year old Little League  All Stars.


Bailey Beddingfield  from the Phillies.  A couple of Pirates Colby Carter and Colton Cruz.  Another Phillie is Dwight Daniles Jr.  Since each team member is listed in alphabetical order we now have three Cardinals Silas Gonzalez, David Harrison and Chase Hollowell.  Trevor Mills will represent the D'Backs.  Another Phillie is Aubrey Mitchell Jr.  From the D'Backs is Zachary Patterson.  The final two all stars are Phillies J D Reid and Chris Warrick.


The head coach is Tim Ozment and Joey Ozment from the Phillies.  Tony Gonzalez was a coach for the Cardinals and Ronnie Beddingfield is from the Phillies.

Good luck to each and every team as they represent us all over the district  and just maybe another sign or two can hang along the walkway heading into the Sports Complex which bares  the name of all the past State Championship teams, players and coaches.

Rocky Mount Recreation All- Stars Begin Play

If you are a parent of a athlete who has made an all -star team in baseball then you know that right after the Fourth of July all-star competition begins and that could mean on the road some where for the rest of the month as long as you win.  Pee Wee, Midgets and Little league a state championship is as far as you can go but if you are involved in Babe Ruth and you are as successful as several teams have been from this area in the last decade you may play ball almost to the end of August.

Here is the Pee Wee squad who will represent Rocky Mount in district play. These players are seven and eight years old.
Brody Brice who played for the Pirates during the regular season.  Jay Bullock who played for the Braves.
Chandler Cockrell from the Rays.  Coleston Dempsey  from the A's.  Conner Freeman representing the D'Backs.  Jake Fuller who during the season played for the Mets.  Malik Hill from the Braves.  Brendan Lewis another Pirate.  Ashton Rhodes who played for the Nationals.  Will Varnell  comes from the Mets.  Conner Whitley another Ray and Jordan Wright from the Nationals.

The coaches are Chad Womble and Josh Driver from the Pirates and Fred Fuller and Matt Varnell from the Mets.

The 9-10 year old Midgets from American League

Brandon Gay representing the Phillies.  Jack Henninger from the Marlins.  Ben Lewis from the Athletics.  Andrew Page another Marlin.  Kyle Rich from the White Sox.  Joesph Roach from the Athletics.  Charlie Rooks the second White Sox player.  Jackson Tedford another Marlin player.  Daniel Varnell our second Philly.  Victor Ward Jr  from the White Sox.  Zachary Warrick from the Athletics. Jonathan Weeks  from the Athletics and Griffin Wingfoot from the Marlins.

Their coaches are Mark Henninger, Scott Wingfield and Craig Tedford who all coached for the Marlins during the ragular season.

Tomorrow will will give you the 9-10 year old National league team as well as the 11-12 two little league teams.

It was announced this week that Wilson Post 13 will host the 2013 State American Legion Baseball Tournament  in Fleming Stadium in August of next year.  Host team gets in the tournament regardless of their record.  The 2012 Legion State Tournament this year is in Lenoir and Next Thursday Night Post 58 from Rocky Mount will try to go to the tournament for the third time in four years.  P58 still has two regular season games left Saturday at Apex and Apex comes here Monday.