Johnson Throws Six Shutout Innings

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The Rocky Mount American 9/10 year old Midget  Little League Allstars beat Wilson 4-3 tonight in Morganton to move up in the winners bracket.  They play again at 4pm Sunday afternoon.

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Rocky Mount's Hobbs Johnson went for his 10th victory of the season pitching for Brevard in the Florida State League tonight and can't pitch any better than tonight but after pitching  six scoreless innings his teammates hadn't scored either and Hobbs fails to win but gets a no Decision.

Brian Goodwin is still lingering around 220 batting average playing the outfield for AAA Syracuse in the International league.  Xavier Macklin is in the top ten in homers in the Frontier league but he like Brian is under 220.  Both need desperately to slow down their strikeout rate.  I told you a week or two about former Rocky Mount player Bill Merrifield who's son Whit continues to tear up AAA pitching for Omaha  for the Royals as he is still hitting 371.  It will not be long now before Whit will be joining the big club.

The story in the Rocky Mount Telegram on Saturday of Post 58 lost to Raleigh  was the last story for Nick Piotrowicz.  Nick has just recently been offer a job with a newspaper in Toledo Ohio which is Nick's native State.  He becomes the second sports reporter lost by the Telegram within a month.

News media whether radio or newspapers in the Rocky Mount area are no longer owned by local people and with corporations looking at the bottom line over what is good for Rocky Mount the Telegram is no longer  the  people's choice for finding out what is happening in Rocky Mount.  WRAL.COM knows more about what is happening here than the home town paper.  Quite frankly the best newspaper in Nash County  is the Nashville Graphic.  Though only a weekly you will see more news and sports in the Graphic in one day than a whole week's worth in the Telegram. I am glad for Nick that he gets to move up to a bigger paper.  During Nick's time in Rocky Mount he has been a pleasure to sit in press boxes with.

We all love to hear someone pat us on the back and tell you what a good job you might be doing.  This week I have been overwhelmed by the out pouring of support given to me by the Raleigh Post 1 fans.  You may know already that Raleigh does not have a home field for their Legion team because the use of Wake and Durham County athletic field are simply too high  for Post 1 to support the team and pay the excessive rent to play games on school fields.

This regular season Raleigh played a double header on  a Saturday in Rocky Mount and not only is the field a very nice field to play on but Raleigh has rented the field as their home field during ever how long their playoff run may last or until the state tournament in Lexington.  Sunday Raleigh will play their first game of a three out of five series with Garner as a home game at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.

They have asked me to be their PA man for all of their remaining home games during the playoffs.  Game three and game five if needed will be in a Rocky Mount.  Should they win this upcoming series with Garner then there is a two out of three series with the Eastern Area one team probably Wayne County so Raleigh would have at least one home game left before the state tournament.

You can see the hardship Raleigh fans have been under as many players are from Durham and they made trips from the triangle five straight nights this week in beating Post 58.  Post one is a very good team and any team that has to endure the hardships this season with no home games deserves a little help from me.

Knock Out Blow

Raleigh Post one came out swinging the bats and never let up tonight as Post one wins their semi final series with Rocky Mount Coleman Pitt Post 58 12-4.  Raleigh scored three in the first and never trailed as Corey Brassington went  eight innings just giving up five hits to Post 58.  Raleigh pounded out 15 hits lead by Derrick Dabney and Sam Duncan with three hits each.  All four games of this series Raleigh scored most of their runs in the 7/8/9 innings.

CP 58 scored twice in the second which would prove to be their best inning of the night as David Williams reached on an error and Griffin Parker double him home. A hit batter and walk P 58 scored their second run on a fielders choice.

P1 put the game away in the top of the third plating five runs and Post 58 would never get closer than 8-4 rest of the way.  Paschal Ammons started for P58 was relieved by Montel Jones and Jones pitched into the ninth inning when Will Edwards pitched last 2/3 of an inning.

Coleman Pitt finished the season 12-10-1 while Raleigh advances to the championship series with Garner.  Garner finished off Apex tonight 5-1 to win their series three one over Apex.  Raleigh will host game one of the western finals Sunday night in Wilson at Fleming Stadium.  They also as top seed will host game three and if necessary game five Tuesday and Thursday nights and both of those games will be played in Rocky Mount.

Since Garner has no home field games two and four are up in the air as where they will be played and who knows just might be in Rocky Mount also.

Saturday the 9/10 year old little leaguers from Rocky Mount American start play in the state Midget tournament in Morganton.  The winner of this state tournament will head to the Southeast Regional which will be held in Greenville NC.  This bunch is coached by Fred  Fuller with assistants Don Whitley and Thomas Smith.

The players on this squad are:  Chandler Cockrell,Stephen  Freeman, Jacob Fuller, Bryson  Jenkins, Brayden Leonard, Brenden Lewis, Mason Pilgreen, Ashton Rhodes, Chris Smith, Conner Whitley and Derrick Wright.

Game Four Washed Out

A steady rain since about six pm and ever so often  clap of thunder brought an end to any chance of getting game four in at Legion Field tonight.  The real question is does a rainout help a depleted pitching staff or not?  You must remember that Raleigh gets an extra day of rest for a pitching staff that is deeper than Post 58.

Let's talk for a second about the way this season has unfolded.  Remember after the disaster of last season and the Windsors, Albemarles and Edentons having to forfeit so many games Joe Bell Post 58 Athletic officer and Hank Jones didn't want to go through last year again so the moved to the Western Division and I think the answer is yes this was a good move.

The quality of competition is better in fact the only bad team in the league was Roxboro.  As for Post 58 you have to remember that the bulk of our players are Big East 3-A then the Rocky Mount private schools and 2A Roanoke Rapids.  Raleigh simply man for man has better players than P 58 since everyone of their players played in Raleigh or Durham in 4-A leagues. So far this season high school or Legion have not seen a better player than Riverside's Jack Conley as a rising senior has committed to State.

Despite looking better, this series has come down to getting strikes across the plate.  The bats used in high school the last two years just will not fly out of Legion Field. Post 58 takes three singles to score a run.  When you only get seven to nine hits per night that adds up to three runs when the pitching keeps men off base from walks.  Every inning or several innings when P 58 pitching did not allow walks even Raleigh has trouble scoring runs.

This rainout puts Post one in the catbird seat because another rainout and this series is over Raleigh winning because they won game one. Game four  is a Rocky Mount home game so if it was rained out again Friday then game four is a home game for Rocky Mount and Raleigh will not be willing  to play a double header considering they are the home team in game five.

Game four is reset for 7pm Friday with Raleigh leading the series two games to one.  The semi final round ends Saturday with the division finals starting Sunday.  Raleigh advances they will host the first game Sunday at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.  As the top seed they would be the home team for game three and five which would be Tuesday, Thursday and those two would be in Rocky Mount.  If Rocky Mount pulls a rabbit out of the hat they would host games two and four as the four seed.

There was a really nice crowd in the stands Wednesday and hopefully with good weather another big gate.  So far this season Post 58 is 3-0  when facing elimination.

Live To Play Another Day

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The Rocky Mount 9/10 year old American League Allstars beat Greenville North State in Greenville tonight to win the district Tournament and advance to the 9/10 year old  State Tournament in Morganton.  The final was 7-1 which oddly enough is the same score that the 11/12 years old Beat Greenville to advance to the 11/12 year old state tournament in Greenville last night in Elizabeth City.

Coleman Pitt Post 58 gave it all they had tonight and Raleigh Post one found out just how long a nine inning game is when it concerns pitching but nine innings would not be enough to win this one as P 58 survives to play Thursday beating  Raleigh Post one 9-8 in 11 innings.

Blake Helms who pitched the last four innings for P 58 and twice survived Raleigh tying it in the eighth and almost winning it in the ninth stroked a base hit in the top of the 11th that drove home the winning run and then in the 11th set Raleigh down to force a game four in Rocky Mount Thursday night.

David Williams got the ball rolling for P 58 with a bases load double in the first that staked Rocky Mount to a three nothing lead. Corey Smith pitched into the sixth inning and had a 4-1 lead when he turned the game over to Will Edwards and Post 58 grew the lead to 7-1. The seventh Raleigh scored four times and Carson Arthur helped  hold post one to just four.  Blake Helms entered in the bottom of the eighth and saw the lead evaporate but Post 58 scored once in the top of the ninth to take 8-7 lead and almost saw Raleigh win it in the bottom of ninth.
Raleigh Post one Manager Aaron Rich in the ninth brought in reliever Jack Conley and Hank Jones had complained earlier in the season of a balk that Conley had a habit of doing and while warming up Jones made sure the umpire crew was alert and aware and before Conley first pitch to the plate John Haggerty called a balk which at that time gave Rocky Mount 8/7 lead.  This brought Rich out of the dugout only to be tossed by first base umpire Haggerty.

Game four is Thursday night at American Legion Field in Rocky Mount at 7 pm.  CP Post 58 over the last two games has drained their pitching again but Raleigh has found out over the last two nights what nine innings does to your pitching as they now have gone deep into their bench.  There was probably the largest crowd of the year at the ball field tonight and after a 3-2 9-8 scores I would suspect and even larger crowd Thursday. BOY the last two nights have been barn burners and well worth watching.

Pitching Strategy Almost Works

Game two of the Area One Western Division semi finals saw Coleman Pitt one day later than Monday but  still not 100 percent ready to turn any pitcher loose for seven innings or so once again deployed a covey of pitchers but tonight instead of the bottom of the staff more pitchers pitch who would be considered middle to the top of the staff and P 58 played maybe played their best game of the playoffs.

Will Edwards got the start and he pitched the way every fan rooting for Post 58 wanted allowed three hits but the big deal he did not walk a batter and when you don't put freebies on base it is a lot harder to score.  Post one starter walked Forest Bell in the first and David Williams knocked him in to give P58 a 1-0 lead. Raleigh Post one tied it in the bottom of the fourth with fundamental baseball. A lead off hit, a bunt sacrifice and steal of third and a fly to center tied the game.

Coleman Pitt scored their second run in the bottom of the fourth with a lead off walk, a sac bunt and single  by Griffin Parker gave CP 58 a 2-1 after four.  Hank Jones brought Pascal Ammons in to pitch the fifth.  Ammons walked the first two batters in the seventh and M J Jones entered the game and got P 58 out of trouble in the seventh.

The eighth Post one got three hits to tie the score at 2.  Blake Helms came in to pitch the ninth after one out was touched with a single.  The next batter hit a solid shot in the hole at short but Khalil Macklin made a great diving stabb but from one knee threw the ball to right field while trying to get a force at second and that moved the runners to second and third.  A ground ball got the third run home and that was all Post one needed to win game two 3-2.

Any fan that comes to watch a good or great game got one tonight in the end Post 58 just didn't get enough  hits and find themselves on the brink of elimination trailing Raleigh 2-0 in a 3 out of five series.  Game three is Wednesday night at 7pm at American Legion Field.  The Rocky Mount Legion
Will be grilling hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese burgers and Italian Sausage before and during the game.

This could possibly be the last game of the season if Coleman Pitt fails to win Wednesday.  So far during the playoffs  Coleman Pitt Post 58 is 2-0 so far this playoff season when on the brink of elimination.

The 11/12 year old Rocky Mount National Allstars won the losers bracket tonight beating Tar Heel 7-1 to clinch a spot in the little league State championship  to be held in Greenville.  In Greenville the 9/10 year old Rocky Mount American Allstars lost to North State the host Greenville team 12-0 to set up a winner take all game Wednesday at 5pm.  It was the first lost of the tournament for the Rocky Mount team.

Rocky Mount American Plays For District Title

The 9/10 year old American League Allstars have breezed through their first four games in the District Four tournament being played in Greenville.  Four games so far the American all stars have scored 48 runs while giving up only 7.  Tonight as the only team left undefeated they have to lose twice in order to not win the tournament.  They will play North State which is the host team from Greenville.

The scene last night in Elizabeth City saw  Rocky Mount National lose for the first time in the 11/12 year old little league tournament and play tonight at 7:30.  They lost to North State 9-4 and North State has won the district tournament.  Rocky Mount  American plays Tarheel tonight at 5:30 and the winner of that game plays Rocky Mount National at 7:30 and the winner wins the losers bracket and two teams from this district move on to the state tournament.  So the 11/12 year olds one of the two Rocky Mount  teams can still make it to the state tournament.

Take One For The Team

If you read the Telegram coach Hank Jones was quoted as saying he had no idea who would pitch Monday night in the first game of the semi finals of Area One Western Division playoffs. Raleigh the leagues top team had not played since they beat Post 58 in a doubleheader on June 28th.  Coleman Pitt having used all of their top pitching in the first round against Cary had to make a decision tonight.  Do we sacrifice tonight in order to try to win this round starting with the second game?  The answer is David Williams take one for the team.

Williams who drove from Duke University Monday afternoon after attending summer school classes was ask once arriving at the ball park to do the best you can.  Williams had pitch just 2/3 of an inning during legion season so  the strategy we will take our lumps tonight in order to make us rested for rest of the week.

Williams gave all he had the first three innings in fact when he went to the mound in the bottom of the fourth he was leading 2-0.  Williams had only allowed two singles and the big item no walks but the first batter in the fourth was a hit batter then three walks another hit batter and the dreaded error Raleigh scored seven times before Chase Roupp could get the third out.

Raleigh scored twice in the fifth on two hits and three more in the sixth when Forest Bell took his turn on the mound.  Carson Arthur managed to hold Post one scoreless the rest of the way and Post 58 managed a run in the seventh to make the game go nine innings but game one goes to Raleigh 12-3.
All four pitchers sent to the mound between them had not pitched much more than five innings this Legion Season.  The idea of course there are times that you lose a battle but the purpose is to win the war and I would suspect still the top pitching rotation will not be fully rested but will be better prepared in Tuesday second game.

Raleigh collect 10 hits and Post 58 pitchers walked five and hit four others.  Coleman Pitt had five hits scoring their three runs.  Game two is 7pm Tuesday night at Legion field.  Tonight Post 58 sent David to take on Goliath without a bag of rocks but the way the pitching has been the last week these guys were as good as anybody else.