American Legion Baseball Season in Review

Just about a month ago, the Concord Post 158 American Legion baseball team entered the Fourth of July break ready for some celebrating. The team was in first place in its District 5 zone midway through the summer season.

In the week leading up to the break, Post 158 had played four games — making up for some early-season rain — and won three. The of the first half to Hudson Post 100, which was mired by a big inning by the opponent and sloppy defense by Concord.

The team didn’t know it at the time, but that setback foreshadowed the rest of the summer. The only fireworks seemed to come from the opposing dugout.

“I felt like we had a lot of momentum,” coach John Morrissey said, of entering the midpoint of the year. “It’s sort of demoralizing a little bit to the guys on the team, and just everybody. Day after day you’re coming out and grinding it out, but you’re coming up short.”

Post 158 struggled through much of the second half of the District 5 schedule, landing in the Chairman’s Cup, the consolation playoffs, at the end of the season. There, Concord’s struggles continued as it went two-and-out in the double-elimination tournament with losses to Medford Post 45 and .

Concord’s struggles that began just before the Fourth of July holiday continued throughout the first week of the second half. Post 158 lost five straight before getting back in the win column July 11 against Reading.

The defensive lapses that began to crop up against Hudson on June 30 came on in full force in the second half of the year, Morrissey said.

“Overall, our defense this year was not really where it has been in years past,” he said. “We gave up lot of unearned runs and really didn’t help our pitchers out. There will be routine plays, of course, but if you can make some tough ones, that can be a real momentum swing during the course of a game.”

And while the season didn’t go exactly according to plan, Morrissey said he was proud of the players that stuck with the team until the end, and hoped they got something out of the experience.

“I have a great deal of respect for the kids that kept coming out and kept competing on a nightly basis,” Morrissey said. “The kids who made it through to the end are to be commended for not giving up on the team or themselves.”

The American Legion schedule is a grueling sprint, as 18 games are crammed into span of a little over a month. Postseason play can add as many as four or five more in a span of just two weeks.

It’s a commitment that takes serious dedication on the part of all involved. For many a teen, the summer is spent lazing by the pool or on the beach. But that’s not quite the case for the average American Legion player, who all but eats and sleeps baseball for a month and a half out of the summer.

Morrissey commended the players that stuck with the team, even through the bad hops, tough calls from umpires and mounting losses and frustration.

“I admire guys who can make the commitment to play as many games as we do over a five-, six-week season,” he said. “They got to make baseball a priority over the course of a summer. And all the guys on the team did that and I think it definitely helped their individual development.

“I just hope they’re taking the time to enjoy the rest of the summer,” Morrissey continued, “doing some stuff that doesn’t involve baseball.”

Because next year it will be time to do it all over again.