KANNAPOLIS— Late Thursday night, Nate Espy continued a tradition lthat he started back in April.

He signed autographs after the Piedmont Boll Weevils’ game.

The Boll Weevils’ (gasp) last game of the season.

Piedmont, the winningest professional baseball team in America (91-49) and a team that carried a .270 team batting average, had been eliminated from the South Atlantic League, Class A playoffs by the score of 1-0.

Even more difficult to comprehend was that it was their second straight 1-0 loss to the Delmarva Shorebirds after winning Game 1 of the best 2-of-3 series.

“I don’t know if stunned is a good ... well, that is a good word for it,” said Weevils manager Greg Legg.

“I can’t tell you the reason why,” mused Joe Ferguson, the manager of Delmarva, which completed the unheard-of task of beating the Weevils on consecutive nights at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium.

“It’s just so sad — the finality of it all,” said Espy in a whisper. “We expected to win the championship after the season we just had.”

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So that’s why Espy signed — but didn’t talk very much. His voice was cracking. His eyes welled up with tears.

“Two 1-0 losses,” he sighed. “But we talked about it. In a short series, there’s no margin for error. We had our chances. But they made the plays. That’s the bottom line.”

Three of the plays the Shorebirds made involved Espy in what has to be one of the strangest games he has ever been a part of.

Espy was doubled off base twice. And in the seventh, when it finally looked like Piedmont was going to score, he was thrown out at the plate. Never has he been thrown out on the bases three times in one game.

“It was another close play,” he sighed of the home plate collision. “It was a perfect throw. It was right there. Another clutch play.

“We won the first game and liked our chances coming home to win one of two. But two 1-0 losses?It hurts.”

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Hurting as much as anyone Thursday night was bonus baby pitcher Brett Myers — and he didn’t even play.

But he paced in the dugout, agonizing as Weevils starter Frankie Brooks dominated throughout 613 innings of no-hit ball. To no avail.

When Delmarva broke up Brooks’ no-hit bid, it did no damage, considering the hitter was thrown out stealing. There were two outs.

Hector Calzado then sent a hit past Marlon Byrd in left. As it rattled around at the base of the wall, Calzado decided to go for third. Byrd recovered and fired to cutoff man Julio Collazo, the surehanded shortstop. As the ball reached Collazo’s glove, Calzado wasn’t halfway to third. He was a dead duck, er, Shorebird.

But again, the unexplainable. Collazo dropped Byrd’s throw and Calzado was safe.

The next batter, Mike Tucker, painted the right field line with a hit, driving in the first run. That brought out Legg to replace Brooks.

“It’s just as tough watching,” said Myers, who finished his year with 13 wins but none after August 7. “I know what (Brooks) was going through. All pitchers know what he was going through. I can’t explain it.”

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Perhaps it was the fact that Delmarva was the opponent. The Shorebirds were the only team in 2000 that played Piedmont straight up. In fact, they won the season series 9-8.

And they did it, despite making four eight-hour bus rides in the span of three days (“We won’t mind this eight-hour trip back,” Ferguson smiled). They had ended the regular season here before starting the playoffs up in Salisbury, Md.

“There are times when you match up better with some teams than others,” Ferguson said. “We played Augusta eight times this season and we lost eight times. How do you explain that?”

Even Todd Parnell, the Weevils’ general manager-advertising guru and all-around good guy, was stunned.

“Winning 90 games and getting shut out your last two is something you’re not mentally prepared for,” he said. “But we had the best season ever on the field.”

Boy, did they. Espy and Byrd were in the top five of practically every offensive category. Jay Sitzman, a 32nd-round draft choice, ended up as the league’s third-leading hitter. Popular Jorge Padilla was the fourth member of the team in the top 10 in hitting.

Brooks and Myers led the SAL in innings pitched and Ryan Madson was the leading winner with 15. The bullpen, led by Matt Bailie, who was 7-0 with a 1.20 ERA, was flawless.

If there was a better-fielding shortstop than Collazo, he never came to Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium. Was there a smoother-fielding outfielder than Shomari Beverly? Second baseman Brian Hitchcox was clutch all season long. Once Buzz Hannahan became a full-time third baseman, he worked his way into the No. 2 spot in the batting order.

They absolutely annihilated the rest of the league.

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And that’s why this was so tough for Legg, who has managed three of his four clubs into the postseason.

“This hurts more than the others,” he said. “You play all year to accomplish something and our guys did it. And to have it all taken away in one night ...

“We won both halves (of the Northern Division) and all we got out of it were two games at home.”

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Ferguson knew his team was very lucky to even be in the playoffs. The last two games of the regular season — against Piedmont — were rained out. Had they been played and the Weevils swept, then Hickory would have been the opponent. And just for the record, Piedmont was 16-4 against the Crawdads.

“The best team didn’t win tonight,” was all Byrd would say.

“They were the best team,” said Ferguson of the Weevils. “They deserved all of the accolades they received. They had a tremendous season.”

Yes, the Piedmont Boll Weevils did have a tremendous season, one of the greatest in Class A history, anywhere, anytime.

But they are not playing for the championship.

It’s sad. It’s stunning It’s simply too hard to explain.

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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.