Fun returns, so do wins
Post 122 has winning record entering District 9 tournament
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| Bill Barrett photo Pat McGuire receives the ball in time as the St. Charles baserunner is out at first base in Sunday's American Legion District 9 game. McGuire had 2 hits in his team's 12-3 loss to Post 312. |
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No matter the outcome of Tuesday night's game at New Haven, Post 122 will go into the Senior American Legion District 9 Tournament this weekend with more wins than losses.
For a team whose core primarily played prep ball with a Warrenton program that finished a combined 22 games under .500 over the past two springs, sandwiched around a dismal 2007 legion campaign, Post 122 coach Jerry Carlyle said that is a pretty big deal."It means a lot, no question about it," Carlyle said.
"It just puts the fun back in it, and it brings their competitive spirit back, because they were down. They'd had two seasons of high school ball that hadn't been that good and one year of legion ball that wasn't good at all, so for us to come out and put together a season like this, it's very important to them as players and very important to me as a coach. I've coached 18 years, and I think I've only had two or three teams finish below .500, so it's not very easy to take, from a players' or a coach's standpoint."
Carlyle said last summer, the constant in-fighting and tension in the dugout just sucked the pure enjoyment of the game right out of the team, giving the players little incentive to make a playoff run.
"As a coach, that was the worst season I've ever experienced, from a lot of different aspects," Carlyle said. "We were definitely ready for last year to be over."
But now, with the double-elimination postseason tourney set to begin with first round games on Friday and Saturday, Carlyle said his players want to keep things going for as long as possible.
"It's a good team feeling, a good team aura that we have right now, and hopefully we'll be able to play some more games," he said.
With the confidence that the team has built throughout the course of the season, Carlyle said Post 122 enters district play with no fear.
"We know we can hang with anybody," he said.
"There are some awful good teams out there. I think this is the most competitive district in the state, so it's tough, but I like our chances. I think that we'll be able to hang in there, and hopefully we will be able to surprise some teams. But we've got to go back to the same old cliches. We've got to take it one game at a time and see how things play out, because it's a funny game. One bad inning can end your season."
Back-to-back bad innings sank Warrenton during Sunday's game against St. Charles. Trailing 4-2 after five innings, Post 122 gave up three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh as St. Charles ran away with a 12-3 win.
"It was just one of those games where our guys really didn't show up to play, and you could kind of tell it in the warmups and stuff that they weren't mentally where they needed to be," Carlyle said. "But we did hang with them. We had some good plays and some good pitching, but it kind of went south on us."
With the seeding order for the district tournament not expected to be announced until Thursday, Post 122 is in speculation mode as to who its first round opponent might be. At 7-7 in District 9 play heading into Tuesday night's finale against New Haven, Warrenton was tied for eighth place with St. Peters, who hosts 14th-place Pacific tonight.
But Carlyle said he isn't wasting any time trying to do predict the opening round matchups.
"You just kind of sit back and wait for the e-mail," Carlyle said of the pending announcement.
"That doesn't frustrate me. I'm sure it probably does frustrate the parents, not knowing who we're going to play or where the game is going to be, but I've been doing this so long, and it's always the case with these kinds of tournaments that, you never know till the last minute. We've still got teams that are trying to get games in, like we are, and we can't get the seeding done until the games are done. It doesn't bother me at all. Just take it as it comes."
Besides, Carlyle just wants his team to worry about putting its best effort on the field and letting things take care of themselves.
"I don't think they're concerned about facing anybody. I think we'll do well," he said.
"We've got to be on top of it, we've got to be prepared when the games begin. We've got some injuries, some guys that are playing with injuries that I am concerned about, but for the most part, I think we're in pretty good shape. It's a fine line between resting arms and making sure they are getting their throws in to make sure they're prepared for districts, because at that point, it's all or nothing. But we'll be ready."
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