When St. Mary’s Post 255 American Legion baseball coaches, players and their parents first agreed to host the upcoming American Legion Mid-Atlantic Region II Tournament that gets under way on Wednesday morning, Aug. 7, at Joe Cannon Stadium in Anne Arundel County, they perhaps never imagined the entire scope of the undertaking.
On July 28, the Post 255 squad was eliminated from the Maryland state tournament courtesy of a 3-1 setback to Severn Post 176. Earlier St. Mary’s had rebounded from a tough, 1-0 loss to Cumberland Post 13 in the opening round Friday to trounce Caroline Post 29 22-0 in five innings on Saturday. But despite being eliminated in the state tournament, the Post 255 squad had already secured a spot in the region tournament next week as its official host team.
“We had such a great experience when we went to the Mid-Atlantic Region Tournament in North Carolina two years ago that we wanted to share that same thing here,” St. Mary’s Post 255 coach Tyler Kimmey said. “I’ve run local tournaments, like the state tournament, but the region tournament is a much, much bigger task.”
With a total of eight teams participating, including two from Maryland, Kimmey noted that they needed to organize the event at a centralized location that offered access to numerous hotels and restaurants while also being adjacent to a field that would not lose any playing dates to weather. Joe Cannon Stadium is a complete revamped turf field — an oddity in baseball — so rain cancellations will likely not occur.
As host team for the Mid-Atlantic Region tournament, St. Mary’s Post 255 is responsible for absorbing the costs of the visiting teams, including hotels, meals, transportation to and from their original destination via charter bus, T-shirts and baseballs for the entire tournament. Plus, Post 255 successfully bid $20,000 just for the privilege of hosting the tournament, which commences with a dinner on Tuesday for all of the teams competing, meaning total expenditures will exceed $100,000.
“We’ve been doing whatever we can to fund raise,” Post 255 coach Jason Bean said. “We’ve got a golf tournament at Cedar Point [on the Patuxent River Naval Air Station site] scheduled for Aug. 16. We really didn’t feel it was fair to keep going back to Post 255 for every expense that came up.”
St. Mary’s pitcher Will Buckler, who tossed a complete game shutout in his final high school game as a senior at Leonardtown High School when the Raiders captured the 4A state title with a 2-0 victory over Walt Whitman High, eschewed any thoughts of the financial costs to focus on the immediate task of winning the region title.
“I love being in tournaments like this,” said Buckler, who tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings of last Friday’s state tournament opener against Cumberland. “It’s a chance to see the best competition out there. You see a lot of players you’ve never faced before. I’m excited for the opportunity.”
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