The Banner News / banner-news.com
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Page 15
American Legion Baseball set to begin play By Art Shoemaker As the summer season arrives so too does American Legion baseball. The Gaston Braves sponsored by American Legion Post 144 in Belmont along with Post 266 in Stanley opens play with a home affair at East Gaston High School against Lincoln County on Thursday, May 23. This is followed with a visit to East Lincoln High School with another match up with the Lincoln County nine on Saturday, May 25. All games begin at 7:00 pm and are seven inning contests. Mark King returns as skipper for the 2019 season. Kenneth Paysour will again serve as the Assistant Coach which gives the G-Braves excellent direction on the diamond. Jeff Gibson begins his 17th season as the team’s Athletic Director. There is none better in the state in this position than Gibson. His selection to the American Legion Baseball Hall-of-Fame was a well
deserved honor for his work with the young athletes who perform for the G-Braves. North Carolina is divided into four areas for American Legion play with the Braves participating in Area IV. Area IV is comprised of an East and West Division. The Braves will complete in the East Division along with Gastonia, Cleveland Co., Lincoln Co., Union Co., Pineville, Maiden, Huntersville and Mint Hill. Historically Area IV is the strongest area in North Carolina. More often than not the state champion comes from this area. The G-Braves team is comprised of players from South Point, East Gaston, Stuart Cramer and North Gaston high schools. Excellent talent is returning from last year’s team. South Point players returning are Jordan Lathe, Ethan Shell, Jacob Landis, Nolan Cochran along with Preston Conner who was injured and missed the 2018 season. From North Gaston two out-
standing players return in Luke Bumgarner and Zack Summerville. Last years leading hitter Dosi Jonas, who played at East Gaston, will again add a lot of punch to the offense. Stuart Cramer is well represented by the likes of Wesley Hall, Carter Merrill and Jason Maggs. Merrill enjoyed an outstanding spring with Cramer and is counted on by the Braves to continue to improve. In addition to these players listed all of the schools that the Braves draw from will provide new talent that will enhance the team’s chances to develop into a championship squad. The team will play a sixteen game regular season with the first round of play ending in late June. Play-off completion begins in early July with opponents being determined by regular season win-loss records. All home games for the Braves will be played at South Point
Players taking instructions from Coach King. Photos by Jeff Gibson and East Gaston high school fields. Fan support has always been excellent for the Gaston Braves. This is much appreciated by both the players and American Legion members
Coach Kenneth Pasour, player Dosi Jonas, along with Head coach Mark King.
who sponsor the team. The team will be sporting new uniforms this season thanks to the generosity of numerous local merchants. All in all things are lining up nicely
for the 2019 season. Expectations are high for another successful season of American Legion baseball for this year’s edition of the Gaston Braves.
Returning players from the 2018 Gaston Braves Jacob Landis and Jordan Lathe.
Raptors lose to Starmount 7-6 Returning players from the 2018 Gaston Braves Jason Maggs, Carter Merrill, and Wesley Hall.
Mountain Island Charter School Player of the Week
MATTHEW CALVELLO #7 ~ Junior
Baseball Pitcher & Outfield
704-395-1239 www.allwoodinsurance.com
By John Wilson John.bannernews@gmail.com
The Mountain Island Charter School softball team had a great run this year. Unfortunately, their season ended in the second round of the playoffs with a tough 7-6 loss to Starmount. The Raptors were idle in the first round because they drew a bye. So while others played the Raptors rested and waited to see who they were going to face in the second round. When the second round came it was determined that the Raptors would host the Starmount Lady Rams. Starmount High School is located in Boonville. The Lady Rams play in the Mountain Valley 1A/2A Conference. Starmount carried a 13-9 record into the playoffs. The Lady Rams made it to the second round by beating Pine Lake Prep 10-1. The game ended up being a real battle with two teams that were evenly matched. The Raptors jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first in-
ning. MI held that lead until Starmount rallied in the top of the third with three runs. The Raptors answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the third, but the Lady Rams still had a better inning. Starmount pushed out to a 3-2 lead. Things stayed quiet in the fourth inning but got heated again in the fifth when the Lady Rams scored three additional runs and the Raptors answering with two of their own. Going into the seventh inning the Raptors were down 6-4. If MI had anything left now would be the time to put it on the line. As it turned out the Raptors were not done just yet. MI gave it all they had in the seventh and got back in the game. Raptor batters drove home two runs in the bottom of the seventh and tied the game up. “We tied it in the seventh to send it into extra innings,” head coach John Engel said. In the eighth inning, Starmount was able to score a run
while the Raptors could not. “They pushed ahead in the eighth and scored one and we didn’t,” Engel added. In the post-game assessment, it is fair to say that Starmount proved to be a challenge for MI. “They are a very good team,” coach Engel said. “In the playoffs, you never know who you will get.” A few things that tripped MI up proved to be mistakes and a tough Starmount pitcher. The normally disciplined Raptors had four errors while Starmount played a mistakefree game. While the Raptors didn’t have a bad day at the plate it definitely wasn’t their best performance. Starmount pitching definitely took MI off their game a bit. “That was probably the fastest pitcher we faced all year,” coach Engel stated. “She had eleven strikeouts, but we had more hits than they did.” The Raptors ended the game with eight hits compared to seven for the Lady Rams.
MI’s top performers were Kaylan Brown and Chloe Hatzopoulos. Brown went two for three at the plate and clobbered in three RBIs while Hatzopoulos scored three runs. MI’s season may be over but this year was definitely a good one for the Raptors. Mountain Island finished the year 22-2 overall and 14-0 in conference play. No matter how you stack it up, that’s pretty solid. “We won 22 games in a row,” coach Engel said. “To me it was a successful season. It was the most successful in school history. To lose in the second round was tough but we had a good year.” While this year may be over next year has the potential to be just as promising. This year’s Raptor softball team was young. The team won’t be losing anyone to graduation. Next year the squad will be a little wiser, a little stronger and a little more experienced. The 2020 softball season should be exciting.