Kinston Post 43 softball season ends in loss to Wayne County
Kinston Post 43 fell to Wayne County Post 11 10-6 in the American Legion Area 4/6 semifinals Tuesday at Barnet Park, ending the team’s inaugural season with a 10-3 record. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
By Junious Smith III
A great inaugural season ended on a sour note for Kinston Post 43 softball.
The team fell to Wayne County Post 11 10-6 Tuesday at Barnet Park in the American Legion Area 4/6 semifinals. Kinston Post 43 allowed its most runs and committed six errors, falling behind 4-0 in the third inning. Although the team rallied to score three in the bottom of the frame, Wayne County Post 11 scored six unanswered to eventually set up a trip to the championship game.
“Errors really hurt us and we weren’t as focused mentally,” Kinston Post 43 coach Jody Turner said. “I’m not disappointed with our hitting — we fought back out of a hole, but our lapses really hurt us in other aspects.”
Despite the loss, there were plenty of positives to take as Kinston Post 43 finished the regular season 10-2, winning the Area 6 conference title and never relinquishing more than six runs prior to Tuesday’s contest.
“If you told me at the beginning of the year we’d be 10-2, win (the) Area 6 championship and have the opportunity to play for a state championship, I would’ve took that all day long,” Turner said. “
Kinston Post 43’s Amber Parker said it was a bittersweet moment for her, as she rising sophomore from the University of Mount Olive won’t be eligible to play next season.
“I’m going to miss it, with this being my first and last year here, but it feels good to make history,” Parker said. “I was glad to be a part of the first American Legion team we had and play with so many of my former high school and travel ball teammates.”
Allie Parker said the team’s chemistry was wonderful throughout.
“We’ve always been friends and we never had problems on the field,” Parker said. “If there was anything that happened, we didn’t show it out there and found solutions.”
Dawn Anderson said there were a lot of great moments, especially the matches against Wilmington Post 545.
“I remember the coaches talking about how they wanted to play us, so those games meant the most,” Anderson said. “It was just a fun season overall.”
Turner said he has high hopes for 2020.
“Next year, I think we’ll be a little more organized and hopefully we’ll have more girls to participate,” Turner said. “Now that it’s out there, hopefully we’ll have a junior Legion program to go along with the Senior team. It’s all about getting the numbers and I think it’ll grow.”
