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It took only a few hours this high school baseball season to know that the competition for the Mark Norris Memorial Award, given annually to Rowan County’s top player, was a two-horse race.
On opening day in Granite Quarry, East’s Brian Hatley smacked a triple and pitched three shutout innings to nail down a win over South. Meanwhile, in Mount Ulla, North’s Daniel Moore started his quest for back-to-back Norris awards by fanning 13 West hitters.
Neither player let up the rest of the spring. Not for an instant.
Moore completed one of the greatest pitching seasons in county history when he beat Greene Central 3-1 in the state 2A championship series. Facing a powerhouse lineup, Moore wound up the year the same way he started it — with 13 Ks.
Hatley’s finale on the mound was a shutout of a good South Point team in the first round of the 3A playoffs. His last swings came a few days later in East’s season-ending loss to Central Davidson. Hatley went out as strong as he began — 2-for-2 with a homer.
Both Moore and Hatley made All-State.
Hatley led his team to the 3A South Piedmont Conference regular season and tournament championships. Moore led North to the same double in the 2A Central Carolina Conference.
Hatley was conference player of the year. Needless to say, Moore was the CCC’s player of the year. He dominated. It was like Moore’s teammate Brad Canipe said last week — fans actually gave a kid an ovation if he fouled off a Moore delivery.
Hatley’s numbers: at the plate, a .442 average with 10 doubles and 27 RBIs; on the hill, a 10-2 record, a 1.07 ERA and 89 strikeouts with just 10 walks. A mind-boggling double-barreled effort.
He also paced the county in intangibles that can’t be measured.
“His first day on the team, Brian came right in and was our leader,” said East teammate Brett Peiffer.
The case for Moore: 90 workhorse innings with an ERA of 0.60 (six earned runs for the season), 174 strikeouts with 39 walks, a 13-2 record with both losses coming in 1-0 games. Moore was also a respectable hitter who batted .316 and drove in 16 runs.
Both of Moore’s losses came in non-conference outings, so it can be argued that he won every game he had to win — even against the state champs.
“Daniel didn’t pitch a single little game the last two years,” said his father, Jack Moore. “If he pitched, it was big.”
Hatley and Moore are friends. They serve as co-captains of the Rowan County American Legion team and have respected each other since the day they first butted heads in a Little League all-star game. Now, their friendly rivalry has taken them through high school. Moore will play at UNC; Hatley at Catawba.
Hatley, all fire and competitiveness, and Moore, always ice-cool, have different temperaments, but were so evenly matched on the field that even Moore’s parents said they’d be happy to see them share honors.
“Brian’s a great kid,” said Jack Moore. “And he had a great year.”
The players’ coaches — neither of whom pretends to be unbiased — weighed in.
“I’m not taking anything at all away from the year Daniel had,” said East’s Jeff Safrit. “But our league’s better and Brian put up player of the year numbers. Brian did it both ways.”
But North coach Bill Kesler liked his guy. Asked who would win a one-game dream showdown at a neutral site between 24-5 East and 23-7 North, if the Mustangs pitched Hatley and the Cavs threw Moore, Kesler smiled.
“With Daniel, we win,” he said.
That simple?
“Yeah, we win.”
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No Post writers wanted any part of speculating on the outcome of the Moore vs. Hatley dream game, but four of them did join the five county coaches in voting for the Norris winner and the all-county squad.
The victor in a split decision was Moore, making the lefty a repeat recipient of the trophy donated by the Norris family in honor of Mark Norris, a Salisbury High player who died tragically in 1977. The award was originally given to Salisbury High’s MVP. Since 1983, it has symbolized the county’s best player, regardless of school.
Hatley received the rare honor of making the all-county team at two positions. He’s the All-County third baseman and joins Moore on the All-County staff. Rounding out the mound crew are West junior Jared Barnette (6-6, 69 Ks, 2.53 ERA) and Salisbury senior Jimmy Haynes (5-3, 64Ks, 2.03 ERA), who tied for the third spot.
Joining Hatley in the infield are South senior first baseman Daniel Pinyan (.382, 17 RBIs); junior second baseman Erik Mowery of North (.341, 16 RBIs); East’s All-State sophomore shortstop Cal Hayes Jr. (.453, 39 runs); and East sophomore catcher Drew Davis (.407, 15 RBIs).
In the outfield are East senior Brett Peiffer (.333, 32 RBIs), West senior Drew Callicutt (.352, 19 RBIs) and Salisbury senior Michael Blount (.439, 10 RBIs). Named to the team at utility spots were North senior catcher Brad Canipe (.360, 29 RBIs), North senior shortstop Nathan Woodburn (.412, 28 RBIs) and West sophomore catcher Ben Hampton (.301, 17 RBIs).
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