A season ago Post 72 made it all the way to the final day of state tournament and was one of the two final teams standing before falling to Rockport Post 254 4-2 in the championship game.
This season Post 72 hopes for even more success as they begin their 2022 summer season this evening when they open up against Lafayette at North Montgomery with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
On paper Post 72 looks to have once again a loaded roster as usual they will feature numerous local area players. Crawfordsville’s Kaiden Underwood, Bryce Dowell, and Austin Motz all will dawn the red, white, and blue Legion uniforms this summer. North Montgomery fans will have plenty of familiar faces to see play with Post 72 this summer. Regular season SAC batting champion Brookes Walters along with Charger ace Jarrod Kirsch along with teammates Ross Dyson, Austin Sulc, Corbin Meadows, and Noah Hopkins make up the six Chargers on the Post 72 squad.
“We all want to get back to the State Finals because we got a taste of it last year and it was fun,” Post 72 coach Kyle Proctor said.
“We’re a little younger than we were last year, but their talent makes up for that age. “It all depends on how things click with us. Early on in the summer it’s always tough because you really have to find out what kind of team you have.”
Another key returning player for Post 72 this summer will be Landen Southern who was one of the aces of the pitching staff a season ago.
Pitching should be a strength again this season as along with Southern returning, Post 72 will also likely rely on Kirsch and Dowell to help anchor the staff. Last summer Southern posted a 7-3 record with 79 strikeouts while only walking 16 hitters in 51.1 innings pitched en route to posting a 2.46 ERA.
“Our pitching looks great early on,” Proctor said of the staff. “Landon is hitting around 90+ after being at Anderson for a year, then you come in with a guy like Kirsch who has a ton of movement to him. We have a lot of left handers and the challenge will be to set up a consistent rotation for these guys.”
The schedule for Post 72 includes trips Indiana State University on June 16 for a match with Sullivan, a quick drive up to Loeb Stadium on June 21 for another match up against Lafayette. Byron Cox will host their annual ‘Crawfordsville Wooden Bat Tournament on June 24-26 and will welcome teams from Chicago, IL, Moberly, MO, Greenville, OH , and Danville, IL as well as East Chicago.
The final month of the season in July will be a busy one for the Post. They’ll host another tournament on July 1-3 as they welcome teams from around the state and over in Illinois. After that they’ll set their sights on Kansas City, MO for another tournament July 6-10 before rounding out their regular season schedule with one last tournament at Terre Haute North July 14-17.
The State Tournament is scheduled for July 22-26 as Post 72.
“We’ve got a tough schedule out the gate with playing Lafayette then traveling to Terre Haute and Kokomo all in a three day stretch,” Proctor noted of the schedule. “You top it all off with four games total on Saturday and Sunday so they’ll get used to playing with each other real quick.”
