FARGO, N.D. ó When American Legion baseball players repeat the Code of Sportsmanship before every game, one of the lines says, “I will keep a stout heart in defeat.”
That’s not always the easiest of things to do in sports. I cringe at all the times I’ve been a sore loser.
But as Rowan Countians packed their bags and prepared to leave the prairie land Tuesday morning, I think they carried with them stout hearts.
Their two one-run losses in the 2009 American Legion World Series were agonizing, but each featured tremendous comebacks.
In fact, the team’s rally from a 12-0 deficit in Monday’s 15-14 loss fell a run shy of being the biggest comeback in American Legion World Series history. Everywhere we went around Newman Outdoor Field, people spoke of Rowan County’s relentlessness, and the game in which they were eliminated was the ultimate testimony.
The team became somewhat of a local favorite and Cinderella story, especially with its improbable victory Sunday night over defending World Series champion Las Vegas.
As you might remember, Las Vegas had tied the game 6-6 in the final inning and had the bases loaded with none out.
“A couple text messages from home said, ‘Load the car,’ ” recalled Darren White, an uncle of Rowan County players Trey and Noah Holmes.
But relief pitcher Alex Litaker entered the game to face the Nevada team’s 4, 5 and 6 batters and somehow pitched Rowan County out of the monster jam.
“That’s one in a hundred you get out of that,” White said.
I dubbed this team the Fargonauts because I think it will be remembered a long time for what it accomplished to reach Fargo and the games it played once it was here.
As others covered the action on the diamond, I spent most of my time in Fargo meeting some of the players’ friends and families.
They made significant financial sacrifices to be here, after doing the same in the state championship tournament in Greenville, N.C., and the Southeast Regional in Sumter, S.C.
Here are some of the things I’ll remember about them:
– The high five between Scott Shull and Dale Litaker when Alex Litaker induced the final out in the seventh inning of the Las Vegas game. Somehow it was symbolic: the catcher’s father exalting with the pitcher’s dad.
– Grown men in rally caps.
Darren White, Reggie White, Rusty Hiatt, Jimmy Holmes and Johnny Miller turning their ballcaps inside-out during Rowan County’s final inning and final rally of the season Monday night. You had to believe it was going to work.
– Grown men at Hooters: The aforementioned group first took Noah Holmes to Hooters in hopes of getting the third basemen on track after a tough couple of games. It worked. Holmes went 4-for-4 against Vegas in what he called the greatest game of his life.
The men then made a second trip to Hooters in advance celebration of Trey Holmes’ next birthday. Again, it worked. Trey Holmes went 4-for-6 with three RBI in the Monday game against Midland, Mich.
– Billy Buchanan’s sweatshirt. It looked as though Buchanan took some dark spray paint and scrawled the words “Rowan Baseball” on a bright red sweatshirt.
“Spilled something,” Buchanan said Monday night when I pointed at the sweatshirt with a questioning look.
Then he added, “My wife wasn’t too fond of it.”
– Allen Troutman’s hoodie. Because game-time temperatures threatened to dip below 50 degrees Monday night, Troutman thought ahead and purchased a Minnesota Wild hoodie, though he may not have known who the Minnesota Wild were.
Isn’t it a hockey team?
– Forrest Buchanan’s 18th birthday. The Rowan pitcher turned 18 on Sunday, the day Rowan County eliminated Las Vegas.
“His birthday party was free,” said his mom, Tammy.
Then she remembered what the family had spent getting to Fargo.
“Let me rephrase that,” she said.
– Eating lunch at Space Aliens with Ethan Fisher, Nick Smith, Casey Little, Parker Gobbel and Cody Laws.
I learned that the players thought Fargo women were attractive, that the team was divided between country music and rap and that catcher Matt Miller had a stinky pillow.
– Ray Sansbury’s chance to meet and talk with Bob Feller. Sansbury, 82, had a great visit with the 90-year-old Feller, who was signing autographs one night at the stadium.
Feller is the first American Legion baseball player to have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He also provided a special moment for Rowan catcher Austin Shull. When Feller threw out the ceremonial first pitch Sunday night, Shull caught it and shook the Hall of Famer’s hand. I envy him and that lifelong memory.
– Linda Robinson’s autographed baseball. The Rowan Countian dropped everything and made an arduous plane trip to Fargo to see the two Saturday games before having to fly back home so she could be at work Monday morning.
Before she left, she managed to have all the Rowan players sign a ball for her.
– Bob and Trish Smith. I’ll make a shameless plug for the Salisbury Post here because the Smiths have double-teamed a paper route for us since 1984. Their oldest son, Marty, manned the route back home so they could make the trip to Fargo.
– The Tootsie pops of Cindy Little and Julie Litaker. The Tootsie wrappers with Indians are especially lucky.
– Katie Veal’s scorekeeping. Remember, it’s her book, and she’s the final word.
– Bob Lowman and Voight Bassinger and all those cornfields. They were the first, not the last, to tell me about all the cornfields and silos they saw on their trip to Fargo.
– My Fargo roommate and WSTP sportscaster Howard Platt in his underwear. The vision still haunts me.
The exodus from Fargo is almost complete. Rowan folks have left by rental car to Minneapolis, where they’ll catch a jet home. Others have flown out of Fargo’s Hector International Airport.
The toughest fans already have loaded into their own vehicles, making the long trip home.
I predict they’ll see cornfields.
But in baseball terms, they may never see again what they saw in Fargo.