KANNAPOLIS — Kannapolis American Legion head coach Joe Hubbard likely smiled when he heard that his team had drawn powerhouse Wayne County in the first round of the double-elimination state tournament, which begins Friday in Granite Falls.
Because that means Kannapolis (22-17), once a lightly regarded No. 9 seed that was supposed to be shown the opening-round door, will be the underdog in the 1 p.m. game that opens the historic event. But then, the “you-guys-ain’t-supposed-to-win” position has become as comfortable for Hubbard as his favorite easy chair.
Kannapolis, after all, has been living on borrowed time in these playoffs since the night of June 30, when it escaped a bases-loaded, no outs situation in the bottom of the ninth to survive its series with Lexington. Lexington had four college signees, including a pair of Division I kids. A colleague at the Lexington paper tells us the team still can’t believe that series got away.
That same empty feeling has to be in the air in Mocksville, which Kannapolis beat in five games to claim a berth in the state tournament. Mocksville’s star rightfielder Steve LeFaivre admitted this week that fourth-seeded Mocksville, which dominated the teams’ regular-season home-and-home series, “should have killed Kannapolis.” Mocksville outscored Kannapolis 45-30 in that series and by 26-3 in back-to-back games. Yet, Kannapolis rolled on.
And who knows what they’re thinking at Eastern Randolph, the team Kannapolis stunned in between its upsets of Lexington and Mocksville. Eastern was Area III’s top seed and no doubt about it, was supposed to be in Granite Falls this week. It took Kannapolis four games to end the season of the squad that swept the Area III title series in ‘99.
All over the area, there is genuine astonishment that Kannapolis is still in uniform.
A fan of 14th-seeded Mooresville, an early round loser to Rowan County, expressed disbelief with Kannapolis’ run. The incredulity in his voice sent a clear message: “Darn it, we’re better than those guys!”
As late as Wednesday, a sports fan stopped me on the street and asked, “Now who is it that’s going to the state tournament from Area III besides Rowan?”
Those statements explain why when Kannapolis sets foot on the diamond at Granite Falls Friday, it will be much more than just a Cinderella story. For Kannapolis, the last three weeks have been a whole book of fairy tales. A whole series of unlikely long-shot horses coming in — one after another.
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Kannapolis’ talent pool is shallow, at best.
Hubbard is the head coach at Northwest Cabarrus High. His assistant, Empsy Thompson, is the head coach at A.L. Brown. Kannapolis players come exclusively from their two schools.
Northwest had only two all-conference baseball players this spring. Neither is on this Legion team. One (Trojan quarterback Ryan Woodham) chose to work on football. The other, Ryan Leister, who might have belonged to the Concord team anyway, concentrated on basketball.
Many of the batting heroes for Thompson’s Wonders aren’t around, either. First baseman Daniel Smith played AAU ball. Slugging right fielder Josh Lee, the football team’s quarterback, is committed to the gridiron. Talented center fielder Marcello Stanback was a late scratch.
Hubbard and the recently engaged Thompson (to whom Hubbard hands plenty of good-natured grief about his new marital status) brought in only one exceptional pitcher (Pfeiffer-bound Bobby Helms, who will likely be tomorrow’s starter) between them. And yet, their mix-and-match crew of jayvees, football players and no-quit over-achievers is still around.
This is a team that has been kicked, stomped and humiliated more than once. But it’s always come back for more. If there’s ever been a team that’s more than the sum of its collective parts this is it. There’s not a single player in the regular lineup who hasn’t produced a game-breaking hit in the playoffs. And the Adam Russell-Nick Cadolino bullpen has been brilliant every time it’s been pushed to the edge.
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Hubbard and Thompson, who go back to the time when they played together in Legion ball at Kannapolis (Hubbard was a senior, Thompson a freshman), found out a few more things about their team in the anti-climactic Area III championship series with Rowan. Kannapolis lost that series — which was for bragging rights, seeding and a trophy — three games to one. But in losing, it gained even more confidence.
The better team won the Rowan-Kannapolis series — but it was far from a landslide. Kannapolis led until the bottom of the eighth in the first game; stole the second game with a late rally; trailed 4-3 late in the third game; and actually led 11-2 before dropping the fourth game.
Kannapolis will see teams with more power than Rowan in Granite Falls, but it won’t face anyone with better pitchers than Daniel Moore and Brian Hatley and it won’t see anyone who is any tougher than Rowan through the top half of the lineup. Rowan leadoff man, Cal Hayes Jr., has scored 60 runs! How many teams in Granite Falls have a 60-run guy?
Hubbard knows if you can make things interesting against Rowan, you can compete with anyone in the state — even against a Wayne County team that rides in off an impressive area championship sweep of North Raleigh.
Maybe that’s why Hubbard is smiling now that people are telling him for the 153rd time that he doesn’t have a prayer in the world. Maybe he’s got the folks in Granite Falls right where he wants them.
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