Season Wrap

Final Statistics

American Legion baseball is very different in one respect from when I started doing this. From what I can recall, Wayne County Post 11 lost one player of note to either a wooden bat league or a travel team from 1983 to just a few years ago. Maybe I've missed someone, but the larger point remains.

That's all changed. No longer can many winning programs confidently predict what personnel they will have for next season. The proliferation of travel and showcase teams and events has been an allure that some players cannot resist. Ask the team that is hosting the American Legion state tournament.

It's for that reason that I am wary of predicting the level of talent Wayne County will field in 2010. (That's presuming the program does not fold.) Fourteen players are eligible to return, but we're more likely to see a Michael Jackson or Elvis sighting than have the pleasure of watching John Wooten perform his magic act at third again.

Wayne's 11-9 record was in line with the number of runs it scored and allowed. This was a decent team but nothing like the ones that the program has fielded over most of the past 20 years.

Of the position players, only Wooten, Tyler Edwards and Cambric Moye had extensive experience at the senior American Legion level. That came about due to a confluence of events that went against the program's hopes for 2009.

First, Walker Gourley took up an offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates. (He was too stingy to lend me any money.) Zach Wright, who was expected to join the team at the conclusion of ECU's postseason, was sent to the Northeast to play in another league. Jay Rose, who would have given the team a huge presence on the mound, had surgery and was lost for the season.

Then there were others who either had problems with the program or whose parents listened to the siren song of travel ball.

The youthful team then had to do without the Eastern Wayne players for much of the way, resulting in the use of several freshman.

Even with the personnel losses the team suffered, some of the newcomers came through. Nick McGee, Scott Holloman and Cody Richards all contributed offensively. They're all eligible to return.

Wayne's pitching was its weak spot. We were aware of this possibility going into the season. The team ERA was the highest of the past 20 years while the strikeout rate per nine innings was the lowest. (A telling statistic is that the three Wayne County teams with the most wins had the most strikeouts per nine innings.) Post 11 pitchers struck out a mere 12 batters more than they walked. But if all of the pitchers excepting Wooten return, Wayne will lose only 57 innings.

Wayne needed its offense to remain on track if it was to have a long run in the playoffs. That is precisely what didn't happen. The team batted .333 in the final nine regular season games after the Eastern Wayne players arrived, but that mark dipped to .243 in the playoffs. Edenton batted .364 over five games.

The teams scored the same number of runs, so how could that be the case? Wayne's biggest strength throughout the season was it defense, the ability not to give the opposition lots of extra chances to score. It proved to be the case in the playoff series. Edenton made 20 errors to Wayne's seven.

We'll have a new coach in 2009. Ditto with the athletic officer position. But if the talent projected to return does so, the pieces are in place for this great program to return to form and make an appearance in the state tournament in Area III.

See you in May!!!!!!!!!!!!