EAST MECKLENBURG BASEBALL SPRING BREAK SHOWCASE

Weddington vs East Meck

Another close game for this tournament. Weddington went away from the power game and played "small ball" to jump to a 6-2 lead. East used key hits by several players to get it to 6-6 in the 5th. East then added another run in the bottom of the 6th to take the lead 7-6. That proved to be enough as Weddington could not get the bats going. I'm sure someone will post the box score later.
East Meck 7
Weddington 6

 

Late Games

Marvin Ridge beat Independence 8-3 in the 2PM game. Independence outhit the Mavericks 10 to 7, but just couldn't string together enough hits to score enough runs. Several costly errors also hurt the Patriots and Marvin Ridge maximized their chances.

In the night-cap fans were treated to another tremendous affair. Butler jumped on Hopewell early for a 4-0 lead, but Hunter May settled the Titans down after entering in the seond inning. Hopewell closed the gap to 4-3, but things got away from May and the Titans in the 5th inning when 3 wild pitches contributed to a Bulldog runfest. When the dust cleared the Bulldogs led 10-3 and the game looked all but over. Coach Greeson and his team didn't give in and a Home Run by Cole Blythe in the bottom of the 7th pulled the Titans within one 10-9. A long long long fly ball to the right field corner just missed knotting the score and the Bulldogs held on for the 10-9 win.

Another day, another fantastic slate of games. 4 more HRs bring the tournament total to 13 through Day 2. The weather is perfect and the setting at Coach Dave Jones field couldn't have been finer.

Box Scores will be posted soon.

 

Angels in the Outfield

Many of you know the Ed Bryant Field of Dreams story and today we had another angel in our outfield at Coach Dave Jones Park. East Mecklenburg Junior Ben Leach learned that his grandmother passed away this morning and played today's game against Weddington in her honor. When Ben entered the game to start the 6th inning the Eagles had just roared back to tie the score 6-6. Leach faced the heart of the Weddington order, including Anthony Boone (the man who slammed 2 HRs in Weddington's opening game). After walking the first batter and hitting the second, Leach settled down and shut down the Warriors. His teammates put another run on the board in the bottom of the 6th to take the lead 7-6. After mowing down three batters, the last on a taken 3rd strike, Leach pointed skyward in honor of his grandmother. Truly, a touching moment for Ben Leach, his family, and all of the Eagles.

 

What happend to a great team

I know THE TITANS ARE BETTER THAN THIS. Great seniors on this team and younger classmen .I remember The Titans of last year and know there better than this.

 

Hopewell to talanted to be losing. Are they putting their best foot forward? you should win behind 9 runs.

 

Last game of day two

I had a great day at the East Meck Spring break Tournament and I saw a lot of good baseball talent. However, one game that has me asking questions is the Hopewell vs. Butler game. A couple of great players, both catchers and awesome batters were not in the line up. AT one time there were five runs on seven passed balls by the freshman catcher with two senior catchers on the bench. Not to discredit the player that was put in that position in his freshman year. (He is a future star for the Titans.) I just don't understand why two senior all star players were taken out of the field and 1 of them out the batting order. They are deserved seniors and to make them watch the game from the dugout is very questionable. If the younger players are better I would understand, but these seniors are great and they put in a lot of hard work and effort. It is their senior year and they want to play no matter what postion they play. I think that putting the seinors in will help the team win and build the teams leadership. I really have no dog in this fight because I love my VIKINGS OF NORTH MECK , the school I attended and love . My son played there and I will always support them. I watch N meck and I always know what hopewell has ,and to see there seniors not in a fielding Position and know they want to play becuase there the leaders of this team. Breaks my heart!

 

I can't imagine why they wouldn't be!

 

Most coaches use the Easter break to bring talented players up from JV's to gain some valuable experience. You never know when you may need them and in many cases they end up contributing to the team before the end of the year.

The games during Easter break mean nothing as far as conference championships or potential playoff runs. It's the perfect time to allow players with no or limited playing time to gain some experience. I noticed many schools in the EM tourney and Jack Sink tourney playing the "rookies" and it was interesting to see how those players performed- some were scared and over matched, while others looked like they should be there.

In Hopewell's case, I believe they have a different priority. They need to win games to gain some confidence, so I agree they need their best players on the field. It's a talented team that's not cohesive at this time. I've seen this type team before and they can be very, very good or very, very bad. It's up to the players to define themselves. Work harder, offer no excuses, and pull together as a team should be their mantra.

Ultimately, the only thing that matters is conference games and those are the one's they need to stay focused on.

However, watching North Meck play this week, they are a much better team. Coach King has some absolute studs 1-9 in their order and some quality arms. I believe they are the best and everyone else will be playing for 2nd place.

 

The Titans seem to be a solid team. They are big, athletic, and some have said they are the most talented team in this tournament (very debatable). But the record shows that against the better teams, they have not won. Against Myers Park (twice), Providence, and Weddington, they did not win. They played West Meck to 8-7 and West Charlotte to 4-0. I wouldn't confuse beating less than steller teams regularly, with being a top 4A team and ready to make a run at the state championship in 4A.

 

Hopewell went 1-1 against myers park.