THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408190262
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
LIKE ANYONE WHO has tasted success, only to have it taken away, the players on the Post 280 Greenbrier American Legion team began play this summer with a mission.
It whispered in their ears when they stepped to the plate. It hovered just beyond the outfield fence, like a fly ball tantalizingly out of reach.
And in those quiet moments sitting on the bench, when the players allowed their minds to wander, it would all come back to life:
Winning their opening round game of the 1993 state tournament. Celebrating. Preparing to play the next day. Then being told they had actually lost because of an ineligible player, and were going home.
Flash forward to the summer of 1994. Most of Post 280's players have returned, and they've had an entire year to think about being drummed out of the state tournament. They have but one thing on their minds.
``They felt after the way things worked out last year at state that they had something to prove,'' said Ed Bailey, athletic director at Greenbrier Christian Academy, one of Post 280's base schools. ``They just wanted another shot.''
After compiling a 20-2 regular season record and easily winning the District 2 title, Greenbrier did get another shot. It earned a trip to Hopewell High School for the 1994 American Legion state tournament.
But just as Murphy's Law says that anything that can go wrong will, Post 280's chances of becoming state champs took a hit even before the tournament began. Days before the team was to leave for Hopewell, shortstop Darryn Bettis, the second-leading hitter on the team, came down with mononucleosis.
Then, there was the matter of pitching. After Greenbrier's three-man rotation of Mike Floyd, David Ellyson and Brian Brantley, Post 280's talent level on the mound quickly dropped off.
During the season, with games played only twice a week, being limited to three starters was no problem for coach Gary Lavelle. But in a double-elimination tournament, where you play every day and there's a 12-inning limit on pitchers over a three-day period, a lack of arms can kill a team.
True to form, Greenbrier threw Floyd and Ellyson to open the competition and breezed through its first two games. Then they hit the brick wall, losing a 20-9 contest to undefeated Post 54 Bedford.
Post 280 would cross paths with the Boys From Bedford twice more before everything was said and done. After winning the loser's bracket final behind the pitching of Ed Gosman, Lavelle came back with Floyd for a do-or-die rematch with Post 54. Floyd, who has never lost a Legion game, singled in the deciding run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth for a 9-8 Greenbrier win.
Floyd's heroics set up a third and final showdown. Coming into the championship game, Post 280 resembled a walking M*A*S*H unit. Ellyson had a sore shoulder. Infielder Anthony Linhardt was hobbled by a pair of sore legs. Mike Hoskins, who caught all but seven innings of the tournament, had a pulled muscle in his back. Rightfielder Johnny Fox had leg cramps.
Strangely enough, after racking up 49 runs on 60 hits, Sunday's final was a pitcher's duel. But Ellyson and Post 280 came out on the wrong side of a 2-1 battle. Greenbrier's only run came in the third when Hoskins doubled and scored on a single by Linhardt.
Hoskins led the team with a .586 batting average, 16 runs scored, and 9 extra-base hits. After the game he was named the Paddy Smith sportsmanship award winner. Linhardt belted two home runs and was second with a .520 average. He and Shawn O'Dell each had 10 RBI. Ellyson had 9 RBI, and Derek Riebel was third on the team with a .476 average.
Although Linhardt is unquestionably the leader on the field, it is perhaps Hoskins that embodies the heart of Post 280 more than any other player.
After all, Hoskins has faced the ultimate battle: cancer.
And he beat it.
According to Bailey, even before the cancer was found last year, Hoskins ``had a good perspective on life and what he wanted from it. Later he realized how quick something like that could be taken away. From then on, he said everything he went after would be all or nothing.''
That ``all or nothing'' attitude is embraced by the entire Greenbrier team, who learned firsthand a year ago how quickly a person's dreams can be taken away.
After the final out was recorded, the disappointment was visible on each Post 280 player's face. Hoskins collapsed at the side of the dugout from sheer fatigue. The team had traveled to Hopewell with the goal of bringing a state title back to Chesapeake, and in their minds, anything short of that was less than they were capable of.
Runner-up trophies in hand, the players slowly made their way off the field and out behind the stadium. Once there, Lavelle sat his team down and congratulated them on an outstanding season. Then he quietly announced that he wouldn't be back to coach Post 280 next year.
Eyes that were fixed on the ground suddenly darted up.
``I've been thinking about this most of the season, but I wanted to do one more year for the guys that got robbed. And I'm glad I did it,'' said Lavelle. After 13 years in the major leagues with the San Francisco Giants and Toronto Blue Jays, and a few more coaching youth baseball, Lavelle had decided that his family needed to be his first priority.
Although Linhardt, O'Dell and Floyd, among others, have used up their eligibility, Post 280 will return the bulk of its roster.
``We had a good year. . . a lot of guys contributed,'' said Hoskins, a rising freshman at Louisburg Junior College. ``But we'll be even stronger next year.
``We were the best team on this field . . . it's just today, the scoreboard didn't show it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Mike Hoskins, catcher for Post 280, gets ready to bat during the
American Legion championship game in Hopewell.
by CNB