American Legion Area IV Eastern/Western Division Play-off Scores

Borderlines

You ask where do these legion teams draw from? This has become a joke. I thought that there was supposed to be a 5000 student limit to draw from. Well it can't be that way in Charlotte. I think Pineville draws from about a 10,000 student body. And Caldwell.....They get players from the whole northwestern part of the state. I learned that they have a catcher (York), that was released by two or three teams so he could play at Caldwell. Is recruiting legal in legion baseball. Why would these legion teams like Taylorsville for instance, release a solid player like York to Caldwell. Caldwell was 5-0 against Taylorsville this season, including a 3-0 sweep in the playoffs.

 

Taylorsville released York because they owed Caldwell a favor. Caldwell released Scott Hall to Taylorsville 2 years ago. Also Wilkes County says that they had a better catcher.

 

Thanks for answering my question, friends.

As for the York kid...that kid looks like he can lash. Some of us watched Friday's game at Cherryville, & we agreed he has the best swing on the team. He didn't get much done that night at the plate, but York appeared to be the toughest out.

 

If Wilkes has a better catcher than York...I'd like to see that kid.

 

Who knows how many players the Big 4 (Pineville, Shelby, Cherryville and Caldwell) will lose from this years squad. Who are some of the big names.
I went to a Cherryville-Caldwell game and learned that each team will lose 8 players.....I know Caldwell loses Reid and Fairweather and Cherryville loses Justice, Wise and Scronce. What about others?

 

Good question like to know that myself.

 

I think there are also one or two players from Kings Mountain on this Post 82 squad. Since KM didn't field a legion team last year they had the option of returning to Post 82 this season.

 

I know that Post 82 looses Daniel Folk for sure, but I believe that Shelby will return the biggest part of it's team next year. I know a lot of people are excited about this season and next for Post 82. Now gotta get out there take of business against Caldwell which will be a big task.

 

Pineville will lose 9 players from this years team...they have some solid Jr. Legion players that should be able to move up and contribute next season and should be able to pick up several players that played showcase this summer that have already expressed interest in playing Legion next year.

 

In regard to Caldwell losing players after this season, yes they do lose some very good players such as Russell Reid, Alex Fairweather, and Brandon York. On a positive note if you are a Caldwell fan they can draw some very good players from the 'B' team which just lost its first game of the year a few nights ago by a single run on the road in 10 innings.

They will return some very talented players next year such as Madison Bumgarner (a rising Junior and just named All State) and Brad Hardee a rising Senior. The only issue with Hardee is that many Division 1 football programs are heavily recruiting him to play Linebacker so he may concentrate on football after he graduates next June. He has also been offered scholarships to highly acclaimed academic schools such as Harvard based on his high SAT and lofty grade point average.