Looking ahead to the American Legion Baseball State Tournament …
It’s a trade-off that no one will be able to evaluate until Thursday afternoon.
When Rowan County lost the Area III championship to Asheboro, it had to settle for a lower seed at the State Tournament, which starts Thursday in Garner.
Game 1 is slated for 10 a.m. —an hour that not too many teens see during the summer months — and will pit Asheboro against Area II runner-up Scotland County.
When Asheboro head coach Tony McKee told his players they’d be practicing at 8:30 a.m. this week to prepare for the early start, they groaned so much that he let them slide all the way to a 9 a.m. practice Saturday.
Rowan gets to play at 1 p.m. instead, but there’s a catch. Instead of facing the Scotland County, they’ll meet Area II champ Wilmington, with two losses to its name all summer.
Rowan head coach Jim Gantt doesn’t know how things will play out. On getting up for the early start, he said, “It’s like having to get up early for school starting again. They’re probably pretty tired a lot early in the school year.”
And as for facing Wilmington in Game 1?
“Obviously, Wilmington is a pretty good team or they wouldn’t have beaten Scotland 4-0,”Gantt said. “To win this thing, we’ve got to beat them anyway. It can add a lot of momentum to our team if we go out and beat a good team in the first game.”
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bracket change: When the brackets for the double-elimination tournament were released late last week, one thing jumped out immediately.
Originally, the loser of Thursday’s late game was dropped into a 10 a.m. Friday loser’s bracket game, leaving a ridiculously short turn-around time for getting back to the hotel and returning to Garner High School the next morning.
Area I Commissioner David Peoples lobbied for a complete restructuring of the brackets but had to settle for a compromise instead. He told Howard Platt of WSTP-1490 AM that the two loser bracket games Friday have been switched. Now, the loser of the first and last games on Thursday will play at 1 p.m. Friday and the loser of Thursday’s 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. games will play at 10 a.m. Friday.
The tournament will run through Monday afternoon, with two winner and two loser bracket games on Friday, one winner and two loser bracket games on Saturday and two loser bracket games Sunday. On Monday, the first championship game will be played at 4 p.m. between the last teams standing in each bracket. If the squad from the loser bracket wins, the second title game will be played at 7 p.m.
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waiting game: Heavy rains have wiped out much of the Area I championship series between Snow Hill and Garner.
Their series has been reduced to a best-of-three affair and must be concluded by today. Snow Hill, the favorite, won Game 1.
Garner would have been in the state tournament anyway since it’s hosting the event.
In addition to the previously mentioned participants from Areas I, II and III, Rutherford County and Shelby will represent Area IV.
Previews for all eight teams will appear in Wednesday’s Post.
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change of scenery: When Shawn Trosper trotted out to second base last week against Asheboro, it was the first time in a long time he’d taken the field without his first baseman’s mitt.
“I’ve played all nine positions all my life, but probably the least of all has been second,”Trosper said. “I keep reminding myself that all it is is catch and throw.”
Trosper didn’t have any errors at second in the final three games of the series and even managed to turn a double play when he scooped up a grounder, ran to second and threw on to first. The throw was a little low, but Spencer Steedley handled the short hop.
“It wasn’t pretty. I probably should have flipped it to Cal (Hayes Jr., the shortstop),”Trosper said with a laugh. “I’m supposed to make the routine plays. I’m not supposed to make diving plays.”
Gantt has been pleased with all the plays Trosper has made, both to second and elsewhere on the infield.
“He’s that type of player who’ll do whatever, no questions asked,”Gantt said. “At that point we really needed that little bit of stabilization. He’s smart enough and aware from playing first base to know where he’s supposed to be on bunt coverages and other situations.”
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‘old man’: Much has been made this summer of how young Rowan is. The only player not eligible to return next summer is
Trosper, who is bound for Catawba College this fall.
“I try to lead by example, by being a hard worker. I’m not going to say much,”said
Trosper, who along with pitcher Phillip Goodman are the only high school graduates on the team. “We can encourage the younger guys. It’s easy to get down, but you have to realize there are so many highs and lows and not get on an emotional
rollercoaster.”
Goodman will still be back next summer thanks to a convenient birth date. As Trosper plays his final summer, he’s making sure he cherishes every moment.
“I’m trying to sit back and enjoy this year,”he said. “It’s been a good year.”
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small ball: Asheboro proved it throughout its seven-game series with Rowan County. “They always say the team that does the little things wins,”Trosper said.
The bunting game came through in a big way for McKee’s team. Asheboro racked up countless bunt hits throughout the series and scored its sixth run in Thursday’s Game 7 on a suicide squeeze.
“That’s the way you create things. A lot of people don’t bunt any more with these potent bats,”said McKee, who lectured his team after skying three pop-ups in the third inning of the series finale. “That’s 800 feet of outs. If you hit the ball on the ground in an inning, nine things have to happen — catch the baseball three times, throw the baseball three times, catch the baseball three times.”
Asheboro actually bunted more in the regular season than it did against Rowan, McKee said. And he has a sure-fire method for making sure his players lay the ball down successfully.
“We take away cuts if they don’t get their bunts down in practice,”he said. “They don’t like that — it’s like taking food off the table.
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thief in the night: Cal Hayes Jr. continued his assault on the all-time Rowan record books against Asheboro.
With two especially entertaining stolen bases, Hayes pulled his season total to 41 and career total to 104, second only to Kirk Huffman’s 127 thefts. Against Asheboro, Hayes had a pair of base hits in which he stole second before the first pitch to Drew Davis. After reaching first, Hayes saw that no one was covering second and the pitcher wasn’t paying any attention to the situation, so he took off.
“That’s part of being alert. It has everything to do with (first-base coach) Michael Lowman being alert and letting them know,”Gantt said. “Drew and (Nick) Lefko have done it this season, too.
“It’s made our defense better because we’ve started paying attention to that,”Gantt added. “There are so many little games inside the game.”
In addition to the stolen base race, Hayes stands third all-time with 207 hits, only seven behind Brian
Hatley. He already holds the career record for runs scored with 207, and the 77 he’s tallied this summer are 11 behind Huffman’s 88 from the summer of 1993. The final season-long record Hayes can reach is the 87 hits by Nick Heard in 1998. Hayes currently has 81 hits.
Hayes, of course, is only is his third summer of Legion ball.
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by the numbers: Talk about Mr. Consistency: catcher Drew Davis batted .361 last summer with 53 hits in 147 at-bats. This summer he’s 54-for-148, a .365 clip. … Lefko’s two stolen bases Wednesday against Asheboro gave him 40 for his career, 10th on the all-time list. … Designated hitter/first baseman Spencer Steedley has made all of his hits count. He has 47 hits and 47 RBIs this summer, far and away the best ratio on the team.
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Garner info: To get to Garner High School, take I-85 North to I-40 East. When 40 splits with Highways 70 and 401, take 70 East into Garner. Merge right onto Timber Drive and at the second stop light, turn left onto Spring Drive. The school is at 2101 Spring Drive.
Tickets for the entire tournament can be purchased for $40. Individual game passes are $4 for adults and $3 for students, with all children under 6 admitted free. No coolers, food, drinks or pets will be allowed in the stadium. Gates will open two hours prior to the first game.
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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4287 or shanf@salisburypost.com
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