| Young P-15's 'came along' through growing pains Wednesday, August 19, 2009
|
Head Coach Wallie Jones |
| |
By DENNIS BRUNSON
Item Sports Editor
dennisb@theitem.com
Prior to the start of the 2009 American Legion baseball season there were two certainties about the Sumter P-15's: No. 1, they were going to be young, and No. 2, they were going to be playing in the Southeast Regional since Sumter was hosting the regional at Riley Park.
So the object from the first practice of the season was to try and have the team playing as well as it could when the seven state champions came to town in early August with a bid to the American Legion World Series on the line. Since the P-15's made it to the championship day of the regional before coming up short, head coach Wallie Jones felt the mission was accomplished.
"I thought we were a lot better team at the end of the year than we were at the beginning of the year," said Jones, whose squad finished the season with a 27-11 record. "We were kind of pointing to the regional the entire year, and it was nice to see that preparation turn into implementation. It would have really been bad to put in all of that work and then you don't play the best that you can."
After losing to Rowan, N.C., 1-0 in its opening game in the regional, Sumter picked up an 8-2 win over Bradenton, Fla., a 12-2 victory over Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and a 9-7 victory over Tuscaloosa, Ala., to reach the championship round along with Rowan County and Tuscaloosa. The P-15's again lost to Rowan County, this time 10-6, to be eliminated from the tournament. Rowan County went on to beat Tuscaloosa 3-2 to win the regional.
If Sumter surprised some people by getting to the regional's final day, it may have been because those same people had seen them play during the season. The P-15's had a roller coaster ride of a season, playing great one game and not so good the next. Jones acknowledged as much.
"It was definitely a case of us taking two steps forward and one step back," Jones said. "That's the way it is though when you've got so many new people on a team."
The P-15's only had two regular position players returning from last year's squad that won the Southeast Regional and advanced to the World Series. It had also lost its top three pitchers in Matt Talley, Matt Price and Tyler Christman, all NCAA Division I caliber pitchers.
When Jones warned at the beginning of the season that there might be some growing pains, he's not sure that everyone took heed.
"With all of the new faces, I'm pleased with how we came along," he said. "I think people may have been spoiled a bit with all of the success we've had the last four or five years, losing only three or four games a season. I don't think they expected this season to be any different."
In the previous five seasons, in which Sumter won three state titles and two regional crowns, it had dropped a total of 22 games.
The P-15's still managed to win the League III crown and their two state playoffs series to make it to the state tournament. Sumter went 0-2 in the state tournament, which made its performance in the regional even more satisfying.
The fact that Sumter was hampered with injuries most of the season hindered the development of the team as well. Michael Blackmon, Cam Martin and Samuel Key all missed significant parts of the season due to injury.
"There's no question getting our best players on the field at the same time was a struggle for us," Jones said. "Blackmon was out, Cam Martin missed a lot of the season and Zach Sherrill was pretty much out all season. Tyler Smith had back problems and Jordan Montgomery was on a pitch count all year.
That's just part of a baseball season, I guess;.things happen. This team just went on and went about its business and did the best it could."
Sumter ended up hitting .320 as a team led by shortstop Bruce Caldwell. The left-handed Caldwell had a tremendous season, batting .413 with 21 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 51 runs batted in. He had 62 hits and scored 44 runs.
Sumter had a 3.58 team earned run average and the pitching staff was led by Montgomery. He went 6-3 with a 1.60 ERA in 73 2/3 innings pitched. He had 73 strikeouts against just 12 walks.
http://www.theitem.com/article/20090816/ITSPORTS01/708169902/-1/ITSPORTS
full story
|
.jpg)
