BY EARL VAUGHAN JR. | CityView Sports Columnist
The tradition of high school baseball tournaments during spring break continues next week in Cumberland County as both Terry Sanford and South View will hold events starting Saturday and continuing the following week.
Terry Sanford coach Sam Guy has put together such an ambitious schedule he wound up involving Freedom Christian so all the teams interested can play.
South View coach Blake Maxwell made his debut as a Tiger baseball player 24 years ago when the late Randy Ledford put on a tournament. Now he’s honoring Ledford’s legacy as South View hosts a new tournament.
Here’s a capsule look at both events:
TERRY SANFORD
Guy feels the Terry Sanford tournament involves both sacrifice and benefit for his baseball team. The sacrifice comes from the players and coaches giving up what would normally be time away from school during spring break to come back to campus and take part in the tournament.
The benefits are multiple. Beyond the financial gain for the baseball program, Guy said having the guys on the field playing helps avoid the danger of the players losing their timing in both the hitting and pitching during what would otherwise be a long layoff.
“Teams kind of come together when they are making sacrifices for each other over their personal gain,’’ Guy said. “I like that piece of it.’’
This year, Guy’s efforts to put a tournament together ballooned to the point he had to enlist the help of Freedom Christian coach Shaun Stafford to find a place for all of the teams to play.
Initially, Guy planned for a four-team event to be held at the FTCC stadium on Legion Road. But by December he had more teams approaching him about playing.
He finally settled on having two eight-team events separate from each other, the traditional one at Terry Sanford and a second tournament at Freedom Christian’s new field.
While the Terry Sanford games will determine a champion, the one at Freedom Christian is a round robin where no outright winner will be declared.
Guy said the North Moore team entered at Freedom can only play two days, so Freedom will be playing twice on the opening day of the event.
Here's the schedule for the Terry Sanford and Freedom tournaments:
@ Terry Sanford
Saturday, March 30
10 a.m. - Gray’s Creek vs. Pinecrest
1 p.m. - Wayne Country Day vs. Terry Sanford
4 p.m. - Scotland vs. Triton
7 p.m. - Western Harnett vs. East Bladen
Monday, April 1
10 a.m. - Losers of games 1-2
1 p.m. - Losers of games 3-4
4 p.m. - Winners of games 1-2
7 p.m. - Winners of games 3-4
Tuesday, April 2
10 a.m. - Losers of games 5-6
1 p.m. - Losers of games 7-8
4 p.m. - Winners of games 5-6
7 p.m. - Winners of games 7-8
@ Freedom Christian
Saturday, March 30
10 a.m. - E.E. Smith vs. Seventy-First
1 p.m. - Lee County vs. Dunkirk, N.Y.
4 p.m. - Jack Britt vs. Freedom Christian
7 p.m. - Douglas Byrd vs. Freedom Christian
Monday, April 1
10 a.m. - E.E. Smith vs. Douglas Byrd
1 p.m. - Seventy-First vs. Freedom Christian
4 p.m. - Dunkirk, NY vs. Jack Britt
7 p.m. - Lee County vs. North Moore
Tuesday, April 2
10 a.m. - Douglas Byrd vs. Seventy-First
1 p.m. - Lee County vs. Jack Britt
4 p.m. - North Moore vs. Dunkirk, N.Y.
7 p.m. - E.E. Smith vs. Freedom Christian
SOUTH VIEW
Maxwell remembers one of the favorite habits of longtime South View baseball coach Randy Ledford. He used to enjoy taking a Pepsi and pouring a small package of peanuts into it.
For this year’s Randy Ledford Easter Tournament, Maxwell plans to give a small reward to fans that want to remember Ledford’s tradition. The first 100 fans at each game who purchase either a Pepsi or Diet Pepsi will get a free package of peanuts to pour in their drink.
“We call it The Ledford,’’ Maxwell said.
As for the tournament itself, Maxwell said his goal was to create a competitive event. He scoured school calendars to find teams in the general area with the same spring break dates as Cumberland County.
He also checked won-loss records and looked for teams that had seasons similar to what the Tigers did last year.
“Coach Ledford used to do a four-team tournament and that was what I was going for as well,’’ he said. “You’ll get to play everybody that’s coming in rather than going through a bracket and not knowing if you’ll miss one of the teams.’’
Here is the schedule for the South View tournament:
@ South View
Saturday, March 30
4 p.m. - West Bladen vs. South Columbus
7 p.m. - Overhills vs. South View
Monday, April 1
4 p.m. - South Columbus vs. Overhills
7 p.m. - West Bladen vs. South View
Tuesday, April 2
4 p.m. - West Bladen vs. Overhills
7 p.m. - South Columbus vs. South View
