7-31-21 roundup: Legion baseball and softball, High school track and field, Pro baseball
By Richard Walker
It’ll be a repeat matchup for the North Carolina American Legion baseball state championship game on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Fuquay-Varina knocked off Rowan County 12-5 in the first semifinal on Saturday at Cherryville’s Fraley Field, then Wilmington rallied past host Cherryville 17-10 in the second semifinal.
Wilmington defeated Fuquay-Varina 11-5 in Cherryville in the state’s last tournament championship game in 2019; The 2020 event was cancelled by the coronavarius.
It’ll mark the first time since the state determined its champion by tournament that teams meet in the state finals in back-to-back years. It’s the first time there’s been a back-to-back matchup between teams for the state championship since Wilmington won titles in 1994 and 1995 by taking series wins over Kernersville.
Sunday’s winner advances to the Mid-Atlantic Regionals in Asheboro that start on Wednesday.
Fuquay-Varina, which won the Stripes division in pool play, scored five early runs, then tacked on seven more after Rowan County tied the score at 5 in the top of the fourth inning.
Post 116 improved to 20-1 with the victory while Rowan County’s season ends at 15-6.
Wilmington, which finished as runner-up in the Stripes division in pool play, trailed 4-2 after three innings before erupting for eight runs in the fourth inning.
Post 10 improved to 15-1 with the victory while Cherryville’s season ends at 22-6.
Here is the full tournament schedule and results for the 2021 state championship:
Wednesday, July 28
Rowan County 3, Port City 2
Wilmington 6, Rutherford County 3
Fuquay-Varina 10, Kannapolis 2
Cherryville 8, Wayne County 2
Thursday, July 29
Kannapolis 9, Rutherford County 4
Wayne County 7, Port City 6
Fuquay-Varina 11, Wilmington 3
Cherryville 17, Rowan County 1 (6 innings)
Friday, July 30
Rutherford County 15, Fuquay-Varina 5
Rowan County 7, Wayne County 4
Cherryville 12, Port City 9
Wilmington 15, Kannapolis 1
Saturday, July 31
(Semifinals)
Fuquay-Varina 12, Rowan County 5
Wilmington 17, Cherryville 10
Sunday, Aug. 1
Fuquay-Varina vs. Wilmington, 3 p.m.
Here are the previous N.C. American Legion state tournament championship game results:
2000 Caldwell County 7, Rowan County 3
2001 Shelby 4, Garner 3, 12 innings
2002 Rowan County 7, Wayne County 5
2003 Cherryville 7, Pineville 3
2004 Garner 4, Caldwell County 0 (vacated Feb. 2005)
2005 Pitt County-39 4, Lexington 2
2006 Morehead City 7, Caldwell County 6
2007 Cherryville 6, Wayne County 1
2008 Randolph County 7, Cherryville 4
2009 Rowan County 5, Shelby 3
2010 Kernersville 16, Whiteville 2 (7 innings)
2011 Cherryville 9, Wayne County 1
2012 Wilmington 11, Cherryville 1 (8 innings)
2013 Wilmington 3, Kernersville 2
2014 Shelby 7, Gaston Braves 2
2015 Rowan County 4, High Point 3
2016 Rowan County 3, Union County 2
2017 Randolph County 16, Wilmington 2 (7 innings)
2018 Wilmington 8, Shelby 3
2019 Wilmington 11, Fuquay-Varina 5
2020 cancelled/coronavirus
2021 Fuquay-Varina vs. Wilmington
Legion softball
Pairings have been announced for the N.C. American Legion softball state tournament that will be played at Crest High School.
Area champions Wayne County (1), Robeson County (2), Davidson County (3) and Hickory (4) join host Shelby Post 82 in the five-team field for the double-elimination tournament.
Complete pairings follow:
Monday, Aug. 2
Game 1 – Hickory vs Davidson County, 2:30 p.m.
Game 2 – Wayne County vs. Robeson County, 5 p.m.
Game 3 – Shelby vs. Game 1 winner
Tuesday, Aug. 3
Game 4 – Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 5 – Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 3:30 p.m.
Game 6 – Game 4 winner vs. Game 3 loser, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 4
Game 7 – Game 6 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 8 – Championship game: Game 5 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 1 p.m.
High school track and field
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced the state-by-state winners of its eighth annual High School Track & Field Coaches of the Year presented by the United States Marine Corps on Thursday.
One boys coach and one girls coach from 47 states were honored for their successes during the spring of 2021 as selected by a committee of experts from around the nation.
The North Carolina boys coach of the year is Mountain Island Charter’s Robert Washington.
Washington guided that school to its first team state championship on June 25 at the North Carolina A&T as the Raptors won the title comfortably; Mountain Island Charter racked up 91 1-2 team points to finish well ahead of Pine Lake Prep’s second-place 54 points.
State-by-state winners were selected based on their teams’ performances throughout the 2021 outdoor track & field season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, margin of victory, performance against rankings if available, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years.
Pro baseball
The Gastonia Honey Hunters fell 15-3 at Long Island on Saturday to fall to 26-31 on the season.
Gastonia finishes a three-game series at Long Island on Sunday before continuing a 10-game road trip with games at West Virginia (Tuesday-Thursday) and Lexington (Friday through next Sunday).