Legion Post 45 falls short in Southeast Regional tournament

ASHEBORO — If you’re willing to look, Randolph County Post 45 coach Ronnie Pugh said, there are positives in every American Legion baseball season. 

One doesn’t have to look very deep to find the positives in the 2025 summer campaign.

It may have ended earlier than hoped after a 1-2 record in the Southeast Regional held last week at McCrary Park, but a division championship, a playoff series victory and more than doubling its win total from a year ago were certainly positives this season.

“Anytime you look back at the summer, you can find positives if you are willing to look for them,” the veteran coach said after Post 45 finished 24-10, one year after going 11-14. “I looked forward to being with this group of guys every day. It’s a great group. 

“The majority play hard and what I told them is whatever they decide to get involved in, whether it’s sports, their job or school, be committed to whatever it is and be the best you can be.”

Post 45, which is 33-19 in 12 regional tournaments, opened the SER on Aug. 6 with an 11-0 shutout loss to defending World Series champion Troy, Alabama. Troy Post 70 has captured two of the last three World Series titles.

A strong pitching effort from Brett Smith and an offense that broke a tight game open with four runs in the top of the seventh, kept Post 45 alive with a 7-2 win over Owensboro Kentucky on the second night, but a 13-4 loss to Richland, South Carolina Post 215 ended the season on Friday.

The first two games of the tournament were plagued by rain as there were delays, postponements and rainy conditions throughout Wednesday and Thursday. Only two of the four games scheduled to be played Thursday could be played because of the rain, which meant a five-game Friday, including Post 45’s final game of the season.

“We ran into a really good ballclub,” Pugh said of Richland Post 215, the South Carolina state champion which was coming off a 3-1 loss to North Carolina champion Asheville Post 70 earlier in the day. “Coming off a loss, we thought we could catch them and have something for them. We jumped into the lead and if we could have kept adding to that, I think they would have laid down. But they got a little fire in the fourth and we could never change the momentum after that.”

In the elimination game, Post 45 grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning with three walks and RBI hits from Carter Brown and Jake Riddle. But that was all Randolph County could muster offensively for the first four innings. Meanwhile, Richland scored four times in the fourth and five times in the fifth for a 9-3 lead. A double by Braxton Walker and a RBI single by Tate Andrews made it 9-4, but Richland scored four more times in the sixth for a comfortable lead against Post 45, which is now 4-7 against teams from South Carolina at the regional.

 “I always thought in these tournaments, there are places in there where being in the loser’s bracket isn’t always bad,” Pugh said. “Once you get in the loser’s bracket, you’re always coming off a win and for at least a day or two, you’re playing people coming off of losses.”

Post 45 was put into the loser’s bracket after the opening loss to Alabama.

“We played them 3-0 into the fifth, we had a chance,” Pugh said. “They were definitely a lot more physical. It’s obvious. You can see it. It’s about the weight room and your diet. It’s not that we don’t have some that work on that, but they were a physical bunch, strong.”

The highlight of the tournament for Randolph County was a 7-2 win over Kentucky in the first elimination game it faced on Thursday night. Because of heavy rains, only the first two games of the four regularly-scheduled games were played, with the nightcap featuring Post 45 and Kentucky.

After a walk to Ethan Willard, a single by Caleb Coggins and an error, Post 45 had a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first. But Owensboro, which won five straight state championships and have 18 in all, scored twice on four hits in the bottom of the first for a 2-1 lead.

That was all Smith allowed as the Uwharrie Charter Academy graduate then threw five shutout innings in a heavy mist, allowing just three more hits.

“I’m always happy for Brett,” Pugh said. “He just shows up and he’s ready to go. It doesn’t matter if it’s in relief or starting. I told our coaching staff we had the advantage. (The weather) was nasty. It was the heaviest mist I have ever been in. And I guarantee none of  this stuff will affect Brett. He just goes out there and throws strikes and does what he does. He gave up two in the first inning, but the longer he goes, the better he gets. His changeup is dynamite. I was really happy for him.”

Riddle singled in the fourth and worked his way around to tie the game on a wild pitch before Coggins and Brown walked in the fifth and Walker’s RBI single gave Post 45 a 3-2 lead.

Four hits and RBIs from Riddle, Zack Scruggs and Willard along with an error gave Post 45 some breathing room.

“Some of these kids help take a lot of coaching out of it because they set the example,” Pugh said. “They realize they have to play at a higher level.”

For much of the season, most everyone did.

NC champ Asheville wins the tournament

Asheville Post 70 certainly had to work hard in each of their wins.

Asheville’s fifth victory of the tournament was a thrilling eight-inning 7-6 win over Troy, Alabama to earn Asheville the SER championship on Sunday.

Asheville will take a 32-4 record into the American Legion World Series while Alabama, which had reached the World Series the past three seasons, ends at 23-5.

Asheville also earned a tight 3-1 win over Richland, S.C., in its second game.

This year marked the sixth time in the 12 years a regional was held in Asheboro that a team from North Carolina won the eight-team tournament. Besides Asheville, Randolph County Post 45 won three titles and Wilmington and Rowan County each captured regionals held at McCrary Park.