By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Graham and Cummings won’t field baseball teams again this year.
“It just didn’t work out,” Graham athletics director Kyle Ward said. “Just not enough athletes to commit to play.”
Ward notified other Mid-Carolina Conference schools last week about Graham’s decision. Cummings had already backed out, making its third consecutive season without a team.
Graham also didn’t field a team in 2021 and 2022. The Red Devils won one game combined in 2023 and 2024, beating Cummings in 2023. The lone Cummings victory that season came vs. Graham.
Graham had about 10-14 players interested in playing this year, but there were concerns about stability with the roster, Ward said. He said some of the would-be players were without much baseball experience.
Ward said it was important to make a decision before potentially entering conference play. The first league games are this week.
“You’re not wanting to hold conference teams hostage,” he said, noting that perhaps those schools can fill some schedule gaps with non-conference games.
This leaves openings for games on schedules for other teams in the conference. Teams in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association are able to schedule up to 24 games in the regular season.
Southern Alamance coach Jason Smith said he put together a 26-game slate in anticipation that there might not be full participation from conference members, knowing if Cummings and Graham had teams the Patriots would need to back out of two non-league games. Now with four fewer conference games, Smith said he’s looking for two more non-conference games. He said he put out inquiries to fill those vacancies without a positive response last week.
For Cummings and Graham, the lone boys’ sports offerings in the spring will be track and field and golf.
