Hometown Pride

Baseball 2009, Game 77: Sumter P-15's 11, Bishopville Post 29 5

Sumter Sloppiness: 11
Bishopville Sloppiness: 11
Most batters in one inning: 10
Hitter of the Game: Tony Micklon, Sumter (rating: 54)
Pitcher of the Game: Tyler Smith, Sumter (rating: 53)
Time of Play: 3:09
Mid-game Temperature: 83 degrees
Attendance: 500 (estimated, Level IV sporting event)

Much of Small Time Sports is indeed very small. Many small college teams who produce pro players only get a couple hundred fans per game. High school games almost always draw under 200, and some weaker non-Division I baseball teams draw less than 100.

But here in Sumter, around 500 fans during the summer come every night for American Legion Baseball at Riley Park. Like Florence's American Legion Field, Riley Park hosted minor league ball in the late 1980s and seats around 2,000. But unlike Florence, the fans don't come to see college summer players. American Legion Baseball is for high school summer players.

Historically, the Class A Sumter Braves played at Riley Park. The JUCO USC Sumter Fire Ants currently play at home in the Spring at Riley Park. Yet these better teams failed to match the popular support of the P-15's. This is due to the same reason that local newspapers tend to follow more closely native players: the attachment to hometown heroes. As a result, the players are bigger in the minds of their home fans than they are seen by outsiders.

The P-15's are coached by local dentist Wallie Jones who volunteers his time to coaching Sumter's most popula and successful local sports team. Jones was successful as a player at USC and is the son of 1960s P-15 coach Bernie Jones. Jones has built a tradition on getting his players to play good fundamental baseball at a level very few teenagers can achieve. His strategies seem at times to take advantage of opponents' weaknesses when he chooses to play small ball and this can backfire against solid defensive teams. But Jones does have 8 state titles and two Southeast regional titles, far better than any other Legion team in South Carolina. After going 9-11 in his first season in 1987, Jones has every since finished with a winning record.

A key to the P-15's success is that they get all of the best talent Sumter has to offer. Over the years Sumter has become a baseball town and usually has good talent. But sometimes the talent isn't there or there is more in bigger cities. Yet these other cities have to struggle to keep their best players in the Legion system rather than travel the country in traveling tournaments such as in AAU. But with the popularity of the P-15's locally, every young player wants to play for Wallie Jones. And therefore the hundreds of fans at Riley Park get a good team to watch each year.

And the talent has been in Sumter the past few years. Richard Jones (Wallie's nephew) and Travis Witherspoon were both drafted today and will play in the minor leagues soon. Allen Caldwell, a multi-talented outfielder who twice in the 2006 state tourney threw two batters out from right field and can hit the ball very well in addition, is in the Royals organization as well. Matt Price is a promising young pitcher at South Carolina, Matt Talley is on the verge of becoming the Citadel's top pitcher, and Tyler Christman has become one of the top pitchers in JUCO baseball. Many other players have gone on to play for smaller Division I players or Division II/NJCAA schools. Among these is Tony Micklon, a catcher at Presbyterian who is back for one last year of Legion eligibility. This core group of players has led the P-15's to two top four finishes in the country in the past three years, and will play in the Southeast Regionals for the 4th time in 5 years this season.

The Legion teams are identified by their sponsoring post numbers. P-15's is derived from Post 15, while tonight's opponent Bishopville is just plain Post 29.

Often times, such as at Dalzell Sunday, the concern for P-15 fans is the low quality of the opponent. Small towns or big towns dominated by travel ball usually lead to P-15 romps ovr glorified rec ball teams. Some dominating P-15 teams have won by over 10 runs per game, making most games last only 7 innings. But tonight would not by easy as Bishopville came to town. Bishopville only has 3,000 residents, but also draws from a wide radius that includes Hartsville (which has 9K residents). Bishopville is coached by former P-15 Preston McDonald, who has become one of the best young coaches in the state. McDonald two years ago led the historically awful Dalzell Jets to the final eight in SC Legion ball, and last year was chosen to start up Bishopville's program which has also been successful among the rural SC teams.

Sumter would lead 3-1 early, but starter Jeremy Buckner had trouble getting outs, and Bishopville would lead 4-3 after 4 innings forcing George James into the ball game for Sumter. Micklon, in a big slump despite having Division I experience, was able to tie the game with a solo shot in the 5th. The game would be tied at 5 going into the bottom of the 8th before Sumter finally showed their talent depth and pulled away with 6 runs to win 11-5.

Yet as good as this is for high school-level players, this isn't big-time even by Small Time Sports standards. The players are still learning the fundamentals of the game, as evidenced by both teams having 11 sloppy plays. Both teams defensively set up opposing runs at times, and the 15-year old Buckner was taken out of the game completely after trying to stretch a double into a triple and preventing the tying run from scoring in the bottom of the 4th. Sumter fans take this baseball seriously, and while I admire this enthusiasm for Small Time Sports it is better to see the kids once they are fully developed. Legion ball is no substitute for minor league ball or even the CPL. Yet hometown pride keeps Legion ball at a thriving level in Sumter.

So it will be back to minor league ball this weekend here at Small Time Sports, and then the CPL again next week. The P-15's do have some big matchups this weekend in the SC-NC Challenge, where 6 of the top Legion programs in the Carolinas will be here in Sumter for the weekend.