The Piedmont Pride captured their third SCBL title in the past four year by defeating the Carolina Vipers 5-1 at Moor Park in Mooresville Saturday evening. The Pride won the 2020 championship by going undefeated in the playoffs. They beat the Lake Norman Copperheads 8-0 on Wednesday, the Carolina Vipers 3-2 on Friday, then the Vipers again on Saturday. They finish the 2020 season with an overall record of 27-7. That brings the Pride’s six-year record to an amazing 178-56.
Head Coach Joe Hudak was very pleased with his troops. “This was both a challenging and rewarding summer for our guys”, the veteran coach said. ” We were very blessed just to be able to play this summer. Most of the summer leagues across the country cancelled their seasons. The Lord certainly blessed us. We tested our guys three time, and didn’t have a single positive test”.
In the championship game, the Pride were led by Austin Morgan. The junior pitcher from USC-Upstate threw 7 2/3 innings, allowing only 1 run and 4 hits, while striking out 11. The only blemish on the record was a solo home run in the first inning. The duo of Conor Miller and Jonathan Tyler closed the game out, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Offensively, the Pride answered that Viper solo home run with 2 runs in the third inning. Sam Blancato got thing started with a double. He later scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Phillip Glasser. Devin Buckner followed with a bomb to give the Pride a 2-1 lead. They put the game away with a 3-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Andrew Terrell got things started with a leadoff triple. After a walk to Glasser, Terrell scored on an error. Adam Grob drew another walk, and both guys scored on a double by Ben Wetenhall.
“This was an amazing group of young men”, Hudak continued. “They bonded very quickly, and really cared about each other. We had a couple of players who lost loved ones this summer, and it was very cool to see how they rallied around and supported those guys. I believe the guys genuinely enjoyed our Bible studies, chapels, and Sunday evening church services, and I think all of our guys were able to grow spiritually. The absolute highlight of the summer was having one of our interns baptized. It was truly a great summer!”
