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GRANITEFALLS— Kannapolis’ players broke the huddle for the final time this summer and headed for the stands.
They held their heads high as applause rained down on them. Their fans at M.S. Deal Stadium knew the magnitude of Post 501’s accomplishments, and no season-ending loss was going to diminish an amazing summer of American Legion Baseball.
Not when it ended on the second-to-last day of the state tournament.
“We gave it our all all season. In the last couple innings we finally lost one, but it’s been a great season for this team,”said Kannapolis center fielder Ryan Craft after Rowan County’s 12-6 win Tuesday. “We showed everybody that we came out here to play ball and that we were serious about it. They’re going to be looking for us next year to come out and play.”
No longer will the Kannapolis Legion team sneak up on people. It announced its presence this summer with a remarkable run that saw it rise from the No. 9 team in Area III to the state playoffs. And once there, Joe Hubbard’s team played the same way it had all season — all the way through the ninth inning.
Late rallies in the playoffs over Lexington, Eastern Randolph and Mocksville made Kannapolis an unlikely runner-up to represent Area III in the state tournament. When Hubbard’s players arrived in Granite Falls, they stuck to their winning formula.
Kannapolis stunned Wayne County with a four-run rally in the eighth in its tourney opener. After a 9-5 loss to Caldwell County, Kannapolis’ two runs in the ninth inning Monday bounced Whiteville from the tournament and set up another matchup with Rowan, the seventh time the teams met this summer.
True to form, Rowan scored eight quick runs. Just like always, Kannapolis bounced back.
“Every time somebody gets up on us, we’re like, ‘Well, that’s the usual,’” said a grinning Craft. “You can’t hold us down the whole game. Definitely not this team.”
Kannapolis crawled back with three in the third, but that was the only huge inning. This time, the big hits didn’t come. And the defense wasn’t there, committing eight errors that helped Rowan increase its lead.
“We had our chances. We had the bases loaded a couple of times,”assistant head coach Empsy Thompson said. “Two or three base hits and we’ve got an interesting ball game coming down the stretch. It happens like that. So many times it’s happened in our favor.
“We just couldn’t pull it off again this time.”
For Thompson, his amazing streak of baseball ends after five months instead of three. The first-year head coach of the Kannapolis High School program watched the Wonders start 1-7. When May rolled around, Kannapolis found itself in a one-game playoff with West Rowan to determine the South Piedmont Conference’s final playoff spot.
Thompson, along with Craft, Bobby Helms, Steve Swann, Nate Amerson and Chad Tuttle, found themselves on the losing end of that battle, too. But Thompson certainly didn’t mind being in the running with both unlikely teams.
“It’s almost a mirror. We didn’t start as slow in Legion ball as we did in high school, but both clubs turned it up at the end,”Thompson said. “That’s what you want. Who cares about how it starts if at the end we’re both playing good ball and good results happen?”
That’s why Kannapolis’ players walked off the field with their heads up on Tuesday, why they accepted the applause, the hugs and the pats on the back from their appreciative fans.
“When these kids sit back and reflect on this season, they’re going to realize that something special happened here this year,”head coach Joe Hubbard said. “It was a lot of fun. It was incredible.”
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Steve Hanf covers American Legion baseball for the Post.
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Steve Hanf