Young, talented hurlers should lead Rowan’s Legion team

BY ED DUPREE
SALISBURY POST

Rowan County pitching has been strong for most of the last decade, and Paul Benfield has been a big part of it.

Benfield, Jim DeHart’s pitching coach since 1991, hopes he’ll continue to be a part of one of the strongest Legion programs in the state.

“If the opportunity presents itself for me to be able to come back and be part of the program, at this point in time, that’s what I’d really like to do,” said Benfield, who is also Bill Kesler’s assistant coach at North Rowan High School.

“In terms of my coaching career, that (Legion) is pretty much where I got my start. I’ve been with the program for 10 years, 10 great years. We’ve had a lot of great players I’ve had the privilege of working with and coaching. And, of course, working alongside coach DeHart, coach (Jim) Gantt and coach (Jason) Kluttz: I’ve thoroughly enjoyed that,” said Benfield, a former RowanLegion and Catawba College hurler.

“I’d like to be back. That’s still up in the air. I think they are going to get a committee together and then start thinking about who they want as the head coach. At this point in time, they haven’t even begun the search, I don’t believe,” Benfield continued.

“Unless they get someone who wants to come in and bring somebody in from the outside: If that’s the case, I would understand and wouldn’t have any problem with that. For somebody that I know or somebody wants me to continue working with the program, then I’ll be back.”

He’s excited about the 2001 pitching staff, even though aces DanielMoore (7-1, 2.48 earned run average) and Brian Hatley (8-1, 2.64) will be playing college ball at North Carolina and Catawba, respectively.

“The pitching staff I thought did a tremendous job in the state tournament,” said Benfield, “especially when you look at what Philip Goodman did. He came in and pitched 1023 innings in one day.He finished one game and started the next game.”

Goodman got a save on Tuesday afternoon by allowing only one run in 323 innings in Rowan’s 12-6 victory over Kannapolis. The right-handed knuckleballer stayed on the mound Tuesday night to limit a hard-hitting Cherryville team to only five hits and two runs in seven innings. Moore worked the final two innings for the win in a 3-2 victory.

“What he (Goodman) did for us was just unbelievable. He was very effective,” said Benfield.

Goodman pitched 1423 innings in the state tournament after working only 13 innings previously.He posted a 2-0 record and a 1.63 ERA.

“Julian Sides (5-4, 3.95 ERA) gave us some strong innings against Wilmington (5-4 Rowan win on Monday), a very good team that had lost only three games in the regular season. He held them in check, then he came back in relief against Caldwell County and did a great job against them. There’s two guys that you know are going to be back and were a tremendous part of this program this year,” said the pitching coach.

Then he looked back at the first Legion season for hard-throwing right-hander Brandon Doby(4-1, 3.75 ERA).

“Doby pitched against Kannapolis to keep us alive. He pitched six strong innings. He’s just 16 years old. I know a lot of people make comparisons to him and Daniel when Daniel was that age. You can talk to just about anybody, and they’ll tell you that Doby’s better than Daniel was at 16. I don’t disagree with that,” said Benfield.

“At the same time, he’s got two more years to go. The question’s going to be, is he going to work as hard as he needs to to get where Daniel is now? I think he has the ability to do so. It’s just a matter of whether he wants to. I think he now realizes his potential. Being 16 and having the physical body he has, he’s blessed with that. It’s just a matter of him going out and doing what he needs to do to get better, and I think he’ll do that.”

Benfield looks at catcher-third baseman-outfielder Drew Davis as a key pitcher next year and looks for Shawn Trosper and young Spencer Steedley to be big factors.

“A lot of fans didn’t get to see Davis pitch much this year, and I don’t know how much he’ll pitch in high school (at East) next year. He’s got a lot of good quality pitches. Don’t be surprised if you see him pitch next summer with Legion,” he said.

“Then Spencer Steedley (5-1, 3.41): He’s just 15 years old. We know potentially what he can do for us. We’re looking forward to having him around the next three or four years.

“Shawn Trosper:Probably a lot of our fans didn’t get to see him either, but he has an excellent curveball, probably the best right-handed curveball on the staff. We’ve got him back for one more year. I think he’s going to get more work in next season at West Rowan. That will help him as well.”

Moore and Hatley, each four-year team members, will obviously be hard to replace.

“When you think about what those guys have meant to the program and what they’ve done for this program over the last four years, it’s just unbelievable,” said Benfield. “I think we’re going to miss their presence on the mound, first of all, because when they’re out there with their experience, they just make the team sort of settle down and play better behind them. Everybody’s a little more at ease and feels more comfortable with the game.

“If anything, what we’re going to miss the most, of course, is their experience and leadership on the field — just their work ethic and how they lead the team not only on the field but off the field as well. It’s going to be very hard obviously to replace those two guys.I don’t know if you can replace them, but we’ll try the best we can. Hopefully, some of those young guys two years down the road, they can take their place and be as strong and good as they were.”

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FUTURE RIVALS: When Caldwell County pitcher Marc Church and Rowan pitcher-infielder Hatley were announced as co-winners of the Most Valuable Player award for the state tournament, they posed for pictures and didn’t carry on a conversation. But, before they walked back to their respective teams, they talked a little.

“I found out he’s going to Catawba,” said Church, who had a great freshman season at Wingate, one of Catawba’s South Atlantic Conference rivals. “I wished him the best of luck and told him hopefully I’ll be playing against him and pitching against him. He’s an awesome hitter. I think he had two or three hits (2-for-4) off of me tonight. He’s going to do really good.”

Church went the distance on the mound in a first-round win over Wilmington and pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief against Cherryville before beating Rowan for Caldwell’s fourth tourney win without a loss.

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LOSING A GIANT: Coach Gary Hamby of Caldwell was excited after his third state championship, starting with back-to-back titles in 1990-91. But he was also sentimental about the retirement of Rowan’s Jim DeHart.

“Rowan has a class program, and coach DeHart is one class human being. Actually, believe it or not, I felt sad for him as soon as the game was over in that he’s leaving this thing. I sure wish he wasn’t. I just had a melancholy sort of feeling there when it was over and I was yelling at him to shake his hand, because he’s such a giant in this business. I certainly wish he would reconsider and stay, because he means a lot to baseball. I do hate that he’s retiring,” exclaimed Hamby.

“I sometimes hate that we were the team to beat him. Again, it was a class act in the other dugout. I hope North Carolina was represented here today by two high-class programs,” he added.