Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Knights' fine season abruptly ends
Leesburg's first foray into American Legion baseball was remarkably successful, as the Knights of Post 181 cruised to a 17-2 regular season record and earned the top seed in the recent District 16 tournament.
At one point during the season, Leesburg boasted the top-ranked Legion ballclub in the commonwealth of Virginia, featuring a who's-who roster of Loudoun baseball talent.
The Knights entered the double-elimination district tournament at Fireman's Field with legitimate aspirations of earning a berth in the state tournament in Stuart's Draft. After posting victories of 13-2 versus Purcellville and 15-5 against Culpeper, Leesburg needed two more wins to achieve that goal.
The subsequent matchup July 28 against a Shenandoah Valley (Winchester) Sharks squad which the Knights had defeated twice during the regular season was a pitcher's duel from which the Sharks escaped with a 3-2 victory, despite a complete-game effort from the Knights' Tyler Basso (Stone Bridge/West Virginia University).
The loss necessitated another contest just an hour later for Leesburg, facing the fifth-seeded Stafford Nationals. Stafford's pitching shut down a potent Knight offense for an 8-1 win, dashing the Knights' hopes of playing in Stuart's Draft.
Stafford proceeded to deal a pair of losses to Shenandoah Valley July 29 to become the tournament's surprise winner.
Finishing third in the district, losing twice within six hours, was not how Leesburg manager Tom Whipple saw his team's season ending.
"It was quite the letdown," Whipple admitted the following day.
Whipple was quick to point out his pride in the team's effort and attitude in Post 181's inaugural season.
"We are pretty upbeat about where we took the program in a short period of time," he said, giving praise to his coaching staff, his players and their parents. "To do what we did in the first season was absolutely phenomenal."
What they did was to outscore their opponents 178-76 in the regular season, averaging more than 10 runs per contest. The Knights put together a .349 team batting average, highlighted by Kyle Irish's (Park View/Shenandoah University) .459 and Mike Stancik's (Stone Bridge/Longwood) .432.
Matt Irwin's (Stone Bridge/Greensboro College) .490 finished as the fourth highest in Virginia and the best in District 16, while leading Leesburg in hits (25), RBI (19), stolen bases (9) and triples (3). Irwin struck out just twice the entire season.
Righty Geoff McCowat (Dominion/American International College) and lefty Cole Shain (Broad Run/The College of William & Mary) turned in the lowest ERAs in Virginia (1.00 and 1.04, respectively) among pitchers with more than 20 innings, while delivering marks of 4-0 each. Both men collected more strikeouts than innings pitched.
Whipple knew his roster was studded with studs, but found his players' selflessness and teamplay heartening. He spoke of instances in which a player would recommend to Whipple that another player receive his at-bat.
"Everybody got along from day one," he commented. "It was the most fun I've ever had as a baseball manager."
To Whipple and assistant coach Jim Grenier, who was eminently instrumental in fomenting Post 181's interest in sponsoring a baseball team, the disappointing close to the Knights' season represents just the last page of the first chapter in Loudoun's return to American Legion ball.
"The baseball community certainly understands the high caliber of play that American Legion brings," Whipple said, noting that several college scouts were in attendance during the district tournament, including Shenandoah University and Rider University.
Whipple said that he and Grenier have a stated goal of seeing the existence of six Loudoun-based American Legion ballclubs within three years, after five years of having none.
"Once the younger kids in the high school programs know [the caliber of ball], it's just absolutely going to take off," he said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.