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GRANITEFALLS — If he wanted, Rowan Legion pitcher Daniel Moore could have a few hundred thousand dollars in his bank account and be working for pay for the Florida Marlins’ farm team in Utica, N.Y., or maybe the one down in Florida’s Gulf Coast League.
Instead, Moore still has to borrow an occasional 20 from good old Mom and Dad and hangs out in exotic places like the Ramada Inn in Lenoir. But don’t feel sorry for Daniel. He’s spending his summer exactly where he wants to — with his friends and neighbors, who are in hot pursuit of a state championship.
A title eluded Moore during the recent high school season. It came right down to the last day, but his North Rowan team settled for 2A runner-up honors.
But today, Moore and many of his teammates have been granted a rare second chance. The Legion state tournament field is down to two teams. Once-beaten Rowan (32-12) eliminated Cherryville 3-2 on Tuesday and now plays unscathed Caldwell County (34-8) today at 4 p.m. If Rowan beats Caldwell, the teams meet again at 7 p.m. for the state title and the right to represent North Carolina in the Southeast Regional in Deland, Fla.
“We know the feeling of being there,” said Moore. “In high school, we were so close, but fell short. We’re going to give our all to see that it doesn’t happen again. Experience will help. Experience is the key.”
Moore was not only where he wanted to be last night, but where his teammates needed him to be. He nailed down the final six outs for his second fantastic finish in as many nights.
Rowan coach Jim DeHart paced and prowled outside his dugout all evening, until he was finally able to hand the ball to Moore to start the eighth inning. Once Moore gripped the ball, DeHart became a different person. He casually folded his arms across his chest and smiled angelically across the field at fuming coach Bobby Reynolds and the always boisterous Cherryville dugout.
“I knew,” said DeHart, “that if we could get the ball to Daniel in the eighth ahead or tied, we’d win. It’s so great having a pitcher like that.”
Moore didn’t have his best, but he had just enough. Two strikeouts, two groundouts and a patented pickoff earned him five precious outs. He got the final one in the ninth on a long drive that right fielder Nick Lefko hauled in as Rowan fans closed their eyes.
“When he (Patrick Mackie) hit that one, I said, ‘Uh, oh,’” offered Moore. “But then I remembered that this place (Deal Stadium) isn’t Newman Park. It wasn’t going out and anything that stays in, Nick’s going to catch.”
Lefko caught the blast well in front of the distant 390-foot marker. Once the ball was securely in Lefko’s glove, the usually stoic Moore fell to his knees, punching the air like Tiger Woods after a 40-foot birdie putt.
The real test in this one was getting the ball to Moore. Rowan’s pitching was iffy after its 12-6 afternoon win over Kannapolis, so DeHart pulled a surprise. He started Philip Goodman. That’s right, the same Goodman who had just pitched the last 323 innings against K-Town.
“Goodman was warm. He was loose,” explained DeHart.
No one was more astonished than the bearded Goodman, who figured that Nate Woodburn or Spencer Steedley would get the starting call, while he got a chance to munch a slice of pizza.
“I found out right before the game I was going out there again,” shrugged Goodman. “I asked someone who was pitching, and they laughed and said, ‘Uh, maybe you’d better go check.’”
Once he saw his name on the lineup card, a sore but savvy Goodman was nothing short of heroic. He allowed only two runs and five hits in seven innings against Cherryville’s power-packed lineup. Cherryville (33-11) was missing .481-hitting slugger Brian Sigmon, suspended by Legion authorities for a display of temper after Cherryville’s upset loss to Caldwell on Monday night, but that takes nothing away from what Goodman did. Goodman pitched more innings in Tuesday’s pair of pressure-packed, do-or-die games than he had thrown during the entire regular season.
Moore’s golden left arm may one day wind up in the Smithsonian. Goodman’s resilient and rubbery right arm will probably be sent to Goodyear, where it can be turned into a full set of all-weather radials.
“Goodman was great,” said Dehart. “He got us to Daniel and that was the key to the ballgame.”
“Where is this team right now without Philip Goodman?” asked a smiling Moore. “I have no idea, but we sure aren’t playing for the state championship.”
It took more than Goodman and Moore to win this one, of course. This one was as close a shave as third baseman Brian Hatley’s new haircut.
It was one of those rare games in which tension mounted from the first inning on — a game in which 3,000-plus fans screeched and clapped and complained on every pitch, from Goodman’s first one to Moore’s final one.
It took DeHart’s full bag of tricks to squeak by. The wily coach brought a loud, whirring fan into the dugout so his team wouldn’t hear the venom coming its way from rabid Cherryville fans.
“Our kids couldn’t hear a thing,” chuckled DeHart. “That was good, because I think their crowd unnerved us in the game that they beat us (8-6).”
DeHart also used his acquired knowledge of Cherryville’s baserunning tendencies. Much has been made of Cherryville’s triple steal when it beat Rowan, but this time DeHart countered with a triple treat of his own.
“We shut down everything Cherryville wanted to do,” he said. “(Catcher) Drew (Davis) threw out two trying to steal and Daniel picked off another one.”
The teams traded runs through the first seven frames. Both got one hard-earned run and one quick one.
Cherryville scored against Goodman in the third on two singles and a sac fly, then got a bomb from Mackie in the seventh. Rowan countered against tough little Cherryville right-hander Chris Mitchell with a homer by sudden slugger Cal Hayes Jr. in the third. It eked out its second run in the sixth when Julian Sides’ clutch two-out single through the left side plated Davis.
Rowan scored the decisive run in the eighth after a tiring Mitchell walked Davis and Lefko. Erik Mowery’s grounder moved the runners up a base. Then Davis scored when Sides bounced toward second and Franklin Allen’s throw pulled first baseman Rusty Haynes off the bag. Rowan got the call on that one, at least in part, because DeHart had patiently worked the umpires all night long. He stayed calm and didn’t rant and rave even when Woodburn appeared to be safe on a play at first in the seventh, but was punched out.
“We all kept our focus,” said DeHart. “We had one thing in mind and that was to win this ballgame. We were going to do that by playing sound baseball, not by arguing with umpires.”
Rowan’s players went about this game with an intense, focused fury. They won it for a lot of people. They won for the strong Rowan team that lost to Cherryville in the Western finals a couple of years back. They won it to prove to everyone they could play at an extremely high level when it mattered most. Mostly, they won it for the feisty senior citizen who coaches them and says he’ll ride into the sunset once this last roundup is over.
“I’m proud of this group,” beamed DeHart after an errorless effort. “We came here as pure underdogs. Now, we’ve got our chance.”
With two wins today, DeHart’s retirement will be postponed indefinitely. He’ll be headed on a Florida vacation.
“Whatever it takes,” promised Moore. “That’s what we’re gonna do.”
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