With the first sound of cleats on bricks and the football training camp beginning, it’s the sure sign that summer vacation is almost over. Another sign is that the two main summer leagues involving the Tar Heels, the Cape Cod League and the Coastal Plain League, have completed their regular season and are deep into their playoffs.
I laid out last week the playoff situation for all of the Diamond Heels participating in these summer leagues. Austin Love was safely in the Cape Cod League playoffs, and in the end, Josh Dotson and Connor Ollio’s Forest City Owls were able to quality for the Coastal Plain League playoffs.
Love played for the Orleans Firebirds, and they were matched up against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. The teams played a best two out of three to move on to their division championship. Love didn’t see the mound in either game, and Orleans was unable to take either game from YD. They were down early in Game 1 and managed to come back but fell short 7-6. Game 2 saw the Firebirds jump out to a 4-0 lead, but the Red Sox were able to explode halfway through and took the second game 11-7. This result means Austin will get to enjoy a little bit of time off before the school year begins.
In the Coastal Plain League, Forest City had a one-game playoff with the Gastonia Grizzlies to move on to the divisional round. Neither Dotson nor Ollio made an appearance in the game on Sunday, but Forest City moved on to win 8-7. Next up, the Macon Bacon face off against the Owls for the right to move on to the championship game. We’ll see if the two Tar Heel pitchers on the squad see some action in that game, or in the title series should Forest City win.
For the rest of the Tar Heels, their seasons are over. Let’s see how they did.
Cape Cod League
Austin Love, Orleans Firebirds
7 App, 4 GS, 20 IP, 2-1, 2.70 ERA, 21 K, 11 BB
Caden O’Brien, Harwich Mariners (Released July 12th)
2 App, 3 IP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2K, 1 BB
Danny Serretti, Orleans Firebirds (Released July 7th)
11 GP, 34 AB, .206 Avg, 3 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R
Coastal Plain League
Clemente Incan, Wilmington Sharks:
35 GP, 135 AB, .217 Avg, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 15 R, 2 SB
Angel Zarate, High Point/Thomasville HiToms
26 GP, 108 AB, .398 Avg, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 27R, 6 SB
Nik Pry, Holy Springs Salamanders
13 App, 3 GS, 41,1 IP, 2-3, 3.48 ERA, 59k
Chris Joyner, Holy Springs Salamanders
11 App, 10 GS, 43.2 IP, 3-4, 4.53 ERA, 50 K
Austin Elliot, Martinsville Mustangs
7 GS, 25.1 IP, 0-4, 8.88 ERA, 33 K
Davis Palermo, Martinsville Mustangs
9 App, 8 GS, 41.2 IP, 3-3, 3.89 ERA, 36K
Will Schroeder, Martinsville Mustangs
22 GP, 61 AB, .131 Avg, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 9 R, 1 SB
Josh Dotson, Forest City Owls
5 GS, 20.1 IP, 2-0, 6.64 ERA, 16 K
Connor Ollio, Forest City Owls
6 App, 5 GS, 32.1 IP, 4-1, 4.18 ERA, 40 K
Bennett Nance, Lexington County Blowfish
12 App, 7 GS, 32.2 IP, 3-0, 4.68 ERA, 36K
We’ll check in one more time next week with the final numbers for all the Tar Heels who played in summer ball.