Junior Legion Team Wins State Tournament, Heads To Regionals

It was a wild ride for the American Legion Post 175 Junior Spartans, but the scrappy young team earned the coveted Robert Redyk Memorial 15/16 Junior Legion state championship trophy after only dropping one game during the three-day, four-game tournament held at Joe Cannon Stadium from July 19–21. The win qualifies them to play in the 17U regional tournament in Cumberland, Maryland, from August 2–4.

In a seeding oddity, the Severna Park team had to play the Damascus American Legion Post 171 team three out of the four games. On July 19, the Spartans rallied in the seventh inning to score four runs and won the game 6-4. Teddy Uy and Nate Peacock led Severna Park at the plate with two RBIs each, while Brady Talbot went 2-4. Brayden Kiernan and Talbot allowed just six hits from the mound.

That Saturday, the Spartans faced the always competitive Post 255 out of St. Mary’s County. The Spartans continued their slugfest from the night before by jumping into the lead off 13 hits to beat St. Mary’s by the score of 9-1. Uy pitched a complete game while giving up only five hits.

To capture the title, Post 175 had to face Damascus twice on July 21. In the first game, the Severna Park team came out flat and stayed that way throughout the game, shockingly getting shutout 10-0. In the second game, the Severna Park team wouldn’t be denied, but the road to victory took some interesting twists. After two innings, the score was deadlocked at five runs apiece. The third and fourth innings belonged to the Spartans, who racked up 11 more runs, but Damascus tried to claw back by adding eight runs, five in the seventh inning, before falling short in a sluggers’ duel that had the Spartans on top by a final tally of 17-13. Drew DiMarsico was 3-for-5 at the plate, and Noah Pellot was 3-for-3. Griffon Smith, Uy, Brandon Matta and Timmy Nguyen each added two hits; the team combined for 16 hits. DiMarsico, Matta and Brody O’Brien shared time on the mound and gave up 11 hits.

The junior Spartans play in the Anne Arundel County 17U American Legion regular season league, however, without any 17-year-old players on their roster, they qualified to play in the 15/16 state tournament. The championship will allow them to move to the 17U regional championship in Cumberland, where they will face the winners of state tournaments from Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. They will join the 17U Maryland champions from Post 7 in Gambrills, Maryland, giving the Maryland teams a chance to showcase the baseball talent in Anne Arundel County.

The 17U American Legion All-Star game was held on July 25. Dillon Autry, Uy and Pellot were selected to represent Severna Park Post 175.

The 17U Severna Park American Legion Post 175 team is led by head coach Dave Ferris, with assistants Joe Zimmerman, Tim Bowerman and Nick Scalese.

The roster includes Dillon Autry, Tyler Bowerman, Owen Collins, Drew DiMarsico, Nick Hanewich, Seth Hanson, Brett Hudson, Brayden Kiernan, Brandon Matta, Trevor McNemar, Timmy Nguyen, Brody O’Brien, Nate Peacock, Noah Pellot, Griffon Smith, Brady Talbot, Teddy Uy and Matthew Zimmerman.