N.C. Legion Tournament (1st Round)

Go Area 3 !!!

.....ooops, I mean GO LEXY GO !!! :bananalam




Seriously, congratulations to both Lexington and Eastern Randolph,,,, both of these 2 ballclubs have been playing great baseball the 2nd half of the season and its now showing at the BIGTIME....

 

Alright guys, everyone that had Eastern Randolph against Lexington in the Winners bracket finals, raise you hand..

Good luck to both teams, I have a feeling if you like high scoring baseball games, this is for you.

Anything from Shelby/Cherryville?

 

Cherryville wins in bottom of ninth. 4 straight hits plates 2 runs to win 10-9. Shelby held a 9-3 lead at one point, but Cherryville just kept chipping away each inning.

 

Cherryville does it again. After being down again 9-3 in the 4th, they load the bases in the 9th and get a base hit to win 10-9. Got give them credit whether you like them or not. To put Caldwell's losses in perspective, let's not forget that they won 33 games. But all anyone will remember is the last two losses. You can blame the coaches, umpires and anything else, also from someone who knows a little about field maintenance, you can blame the field. Cherryville's infield is made up of brick chips. It is very thick and if you are not used to it, can give some funny bounces. Did anyone notice all the runners on first trying to get solid footing when taking a lead? But, bottom line Caldwell did not get it done. Remember these are 15-19 yr. old KIDS. Not every one responds to every situation the same. Maybe they just were to hyped or maybe they did not do the right things at the right time.

Good luck to all the remaining teams. Maybe Caldwell will be back next year. History is on their side.

 

With a tournament format there is going to be a host team. Cherryville is the host, so Cherryville is playing. Just maybe Caldwell took Cherryville for granted. So now that Cherryville has beaten you guys, who can say that they didn't earn anything. SOUR GRAPES! The city of Cherryville has worked very hard for a year to be a great host and I will say that they have done a GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!! Thanks Cherryville, GREAT JOB!!!!!

 

I must be missing a post or something. Has anyone said anything that Cherryville has done anything wrong? Has anyone said Shelby or Caldwell either one are blaming Cherryville for anything? Maybe I don't understand the definition of sour grapes.

Caldwell County committed 8 errors against Cherryville. I don't care if it is Caldwell or Cherryville or Shelby or the Atlanta Braves, you commit 8 errors, you are going to lose. Its baseball. Somedays you are the windshield, somedays you are the bug. It happens.

All that being said, I wish the tournament would go back to series. Personally, I do not feel the double elimination gives you the best representation of who is the best team in NC. Also, there are very few places across the state that can put on the tournament and make it successful. Cherryville has parking issues and hotel issues. The teams are staying in Gastonia almost 30 minutes away. The biggest parkinglot is the church a block away. With the rain, both have been a problem. I am not knocking Cherryville, I am saying its tough to have 8 teams in one location and this work. Can most programs not make more money playing series anyway?

 

Ok DownSouth, I don't want to change the discussion and take away from what Lexington and Eastern Randolph have accomplished,,,,, you know I'm not associated with either of them, but we simply have to give all of the remaining teams their credit.

But you mention some very good points,,,, do you know exactly WHY they went to double-elimination format in the first place? I know the first year was 2000 up at your place,,,,,,, but WHY did they cut out the final few series? Maybe because of travel? You mentioned a very good point when you said money, because the home teams can really make a few dollars when they host these HUGE final round games AT HOME in a 7 game series...

p.s. Of course these final 8 teams would have to play 3 more series which would be 2-3 more weeks instead of getting a tournament done in 5-6 days,,, so maybe its a "time factor" reason...

P.s.s. Btw, you gotta give my Area 3 boys their props for what they've done this week...

 

TJ, first and foremost, congrats to Area III. I never expected their success in this tournament.

AS for the tournament itself, I guess you can make the point for time contraints. But if the only program that can make money from a tournament is the host team, thats kinda self serving especially if you know going into the season that you don't have to win to make the tournament.

We are getting off point here a bit. I am working an opinion piece on legion baseball and I would love to get some more ideas. We always have a debate on here which is the "best Summer baseball." I think it needs to be expanded to be, "How do you fix Legion Baseball?" I think it does need some fixing.

 

Down South, I definitely agree that Legion Baseball does need some serious tweaking. First of all, it is very difficult to find coaches who can devote the time necessary for the season. I am sure there are some very qualified coaches who are not willing to put that time in. Also area directors and commissioners must devote hundreds of hours. That is a big reason we do not always get the most qualified people in those positions. We usually get people who have a hidden agenda of some type. Criticism of these people has been brutal this year. I still think Legion baseball is baseball at it's purest. Let's don't let people such as Showcase and AAU and others take it from us. Look what Legion has done for Caldwell, Cherryville, Rowan and other communities. It has created some great rivalries, not always good, but always fun.

 

To TROCK. I am not saying that Cheryville has done anything wrong, All I was saying was in reference to the fact that people were dogging Caldwell for what a player had done after a homerun and a player from Cherryville's B team had done the same thing. As I stated I don't agree with what either player done. Theres no place in baseball for that. Everyone seems to get on Caldwell's case for what they do without looking in their own back yard to see if it happens there. There has always been a rival between Caldwell and Cherryville and always will be, That is what keeps fans coming out to watch them. That is why they draw such huge crowds when they play each other. Good Luck to all the teams left in the tourney. Congats to Caldwell for a great season and special congrats to the Caldwell B team for winning the state championship on their first year out.