ASHEBORO — Allen Wilson was a college All-American, got to meet Mickey Mantle and played minor league ball with Tom
Glavine.
So when Wilson says this summer has provided the best moments he’s spent in baseball, you know it’s been a special time and you know this South Rowan Legion team he coaches is made up of some pretty special folks.
“I just told the guys, ‘Thank you,’ ” said Wilson, after South’s season ended with a 5-0 loss at Asheboro’s McCrary Park. “For what they’ve done for me, for what they’ve done for this program. This has been a great ride. To go from where we were last year and from 3-11 at one point this year to playing in the third round of the playoffs on July 14, I think we’ve all been part of something really amazing.”
“It was a good run, real fun while it lasted,” said South shortstop Ronnie Shore. “We surprised a lot of people, turned a lot of heads.”
South’s run finally ended in Saturday night’s Game 5, as Asheboro wrapped up the low-scoring series four games to one. South’s final silent night with the bats was disappointing, but did little to mar a surprising summer.
Prior to this season, South had won two playoff games in its history, had never won more than 11 games in a season and had won 27 percent of its games over six years.
This summer, it upped that percentage to 47. It won 17 games, including nine playoff battles. Most important, it won its first two playoff series.
“These guys set some records that will give future South teams something to shoot for,” said Wilson. “People used to count South as a win. They can’t do that anymore.”
South (17-19) pitched and fielded well enough to make its five-game series with Asheboro (28-10) competitive, but its hitters had no more chance against Asheboro pitching than Jed Clampett would have had of winning big bucks on Jeopardy.
It was more of the same on Saturday, as Asheboro ace Lance Cole, the likely starter when Asheboro invades NewmanPark on Thursday for Game 1 of the Area III championship series against Rowan County, overwhelmed South for the second time.
South managed just two singles — a two-out liner to left-center by Greg Deal in the fourth and Jeremy Alderman’s drive just out of the reach of first baseman Michael Stefanacci to open the fifth.
Only a couple of other balls were hit hard. Raymondo Brady lined out twice and Brad Matthews stroked one to right that Brian Clodfelter charged and caught at his ankles.
Cole whiffed 10, which believe it or not, was South’s lowest K total of the series.
“Cole’s a great pitcher,” said Wilson. “We put more balls in play tonight, but a lot of it was right off our fists. We couldn’t do anything with him and I’m not sure we could have if we stayed out here until this time tomorrow.”
“Cole hit his spot on every pitch,” said Shore. “He was ahead in the count on everyone. He’s got to be one of the best we’ve faced this year.”
Cole, whose twin brother Brent is his catcher, set the tone immediately when he fanned Shore on a high fastball to open the game. It was only Shore’s second K of the series but, all told, South hitters fanned 68 times in five games.
South batted a meek .179 for the series and got just one RBI from the 3-4-5 spots in the batting order over five games. That made it an uphill fight.
Cole, who fanned 15 South hitters in Game 1, said he tried a different approach the second time around.
“I don’t know if they adjusted to me, but I adjusted to them,” he said. “I wanted to throw fewer pitches tonight. I’d just get ahead in the count with the fastball and then I’d dump in the junk and make them fish for something. Having my brother as catcher rally helped. He’s caught me my whole life.”
South couldn’t catch up to Cole, even though it attempted everything but wooden bats. Wilson tried Game 3 hero Adam Cornelius in the cleanup spot and gave Derick Morrison a shot at first base. Matthews even tried batting left-handed for the first time in the series. Nothing worked.
“Cole was just too composed,” said Shore. “Nothing got to him.”
Cole (8-1), who didn’t walk or hit a single batter, stayed cool even though deep inside he was excited about pitching to guys from Rowan County. West Rowan High beat Cole (and Asheboro High) in a 3A state playoff game at McCrary to end his prep season.
“Payback? Yeah, I guess so,” Cole said.
Lefty Nick Mayle (4-4) pitched well enough to win most Legion games, but not well enough to beat Cole.
Brian Clodfelter’s two-out double gave Asheboro a 1-0 lead in the second.
The crushing blow came in the fourth. Mayle appeared to be distracted by Derek Pugh, who was running at first, and grooved a 2-0 pitch to
Stefanacci. Stefanacci unloaded a two-run homer that those lively PA folks estimated at 400 feet. Stefanacci will remind Rowan fans of former Concord masher Robert Scott. He’s got a big body, but also carries a big stick. The homer was his second of the series.
Asheboro’s offense tacked on single runs in the sixth and seventh to stretch the lead to 5-0 and knock out
Mayle, then watched Cole wrap things up.
The right-hander needed just four pitches in the ninth, getting Shore on a grounder, Matthews on a pop and Deal on a grounder to halt South’s season.
“Our guys are disappointed right now,” said Wilson. “But tomorrow when they wake up they won’t be. They’ll look back and see just how great this was.”
n
NOTES:Asheboro qualified for the State Tournament for the first time in 10 years. ... Morrison fouled off a bunch of pitches, nailing at least three vehicles in the parking lot.
n
Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com
.
Today's News
