He’s batting No. 8, but Redmond is the series MVP for now

By Jim Lisk, Editor

Thursday, July 10, 2008 July 11, 2008 09:23 am

— Needless to say tonight is a must win for Post 76. The young Stanly County team has battled regular season champion and No. 1 seed Lexington to two tough, 2-run game losses.
Four huge throwing errors are the first glaring reason for the losses, then there’s the inability to put the ball in play for the Post 76 hitters.
Of their 54 outs in the two games, 25 have been by strike outs. That’s just 27 outs the Lexington defense has had to make and it’s hard to recall an outstanding play by any of their defenders.
It’s been too much pitch and catch for the Lexington pitchers and catcher Dan Redmond, who often has problems tossing the ball back to the pitcher but has a rifle throwing to second base. Post 76 has only one stolen base and Redmond has only allowed two wild pitches to get past him in the two games.
Not only has Redmond been a thorn in the side defensively, he had two hits hitting out of the No. 8 hole last night and had a huge two-run triple into the right-field corner in Monday night’s win. That was the key hit in that 9-7 win and his double inside the third-base bag to open the sixth inning last night led to the all-important insurance run.
With his impact on the two wins, Redmond is my series MVP for the moment.
Hopefully, Post 76 will step up tonight, put the ball in play, make Lexington field the baseball and scratch out a win.
It’d be nice to see the pressure to win on Lexington back here on Friday night.
n Congratulations are in order for a number of top female softball players from Stanly County that have been named to the 1A and 2A All-State teams.
Named to the 1A team are the South Stanly trio of Nikki and Chelsey Whitley and Kodi Smith. The Whitley sisters both pitched and played third base while Smith was the catcher. Nikki is a rising sophomore while Chelsey and Kodi are rising seniors.
South Stanly first baseman Jordan Starnes was named honorable mention. Starnes graduated this spring.
West Stanly placed three on the 2A All-State team: Anisha Smith, who pitched and played first base, graduated this spring; Emily Huneycutt, who also pitched and played first base, is a rising junior; and Brittany Beatty, who played both infield and outfield, is a rising junior.

Jim Lisk is editor of The Stanly News & Press. Call (704) 982-2121 or email snaponline28@carolina.rr.com

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