By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Several former Southern Alamance baseball players sought a place to play summer baseball, and they’re doing it together.
The ex-Patriots joined Liberty Post 81 for the American Legion season and some of those players are filling vital roles.
“I needed somewhere to play summer ball,” said Mark King, a Southern graduate earlier this month. “I heard about these guys and knew they came to play, so I was ready to go.”
King is joined by classmates Noah Madren, Ethan Mann, and Johnny Rojas. The big prize for Post 81 might be catcher Eli Holland, a 2024 Southern graduate who perhaps has been Liberty’s most productive player across the season’s first month.
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Holland is coming off a season with Lenoir Community College. He also was looking for a convenient summer baseball option.
“There’s nothing around Alamance because I was looking for collegiate leagues, too,” Holland said. “It’s all far. Everything is far.”
So the Post 81 situation turned out to be most practical.
“Getting consistent reps is good,” Holland said. “Getting playing time, that’s all good.”
There hasn’t been an American Legion team in Alamance County since the disbanding of Burlington-Graham Post 63’s program. Those Post 63 teams were often considered an all-star collection of the county’s teenaged players.
Post 63 last fielded a team in 2014. Since then, a few players from the county have played for Post 81.
That team previously competed under the title of Eastern Randolph Post 81 until altering its name to Liberty Post 81 prior to the 2024 season. Post 81 has played home games mostly at Eastern Randolph High School, though a few seasons ago it was based at Craven Stadium in Ramseur.
The influx of Southern players has been a bonus for Liberty.
“They have been a huge addition for us,” Post 81 manager Nate Cockman said. “I can see why Southern does as well as they do.”
In high school, Holland was the Central 3-A Conference Player of the Year in 2024, while King was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year for this past season.
Holland, 19, is a mainstay behind the plate and he has provided pop in the Post 81 batting order. In a 5-2 loss to Randolph County Post 45, he drove in both runs with a double and a home run.
“The maturity, the experience he gives us,” Cockman said. “And we’ve worked him.”
King is headed to Greensboro College, where he intends to be an infielder and pitcher. He has done both for Post 81, hitting a home run last week and turning in a sterling pitching performance a few nights later.
“Our Southern boys, we needed some place to play summer ball because we’re all going to go play in college,” King said. “We found this place. … There’s a lot of games. Plenty of game reps which is very key for us going into college ball.”
Because of travel teams and other commitments, there have been a couple of weeks when Post 81 had only nine players available for games. Holland and King have been among the core group.
“Nine is all you need if everyone is executing,” Holland said.
Southeast Alamance standout Bubba Sims, a rising senior, played for Post 81 on June 8. He batted lead-off and played in center field and shortstop. Sims’ status is fluid when it comes to the American Legion team.
“Whenever I can, I want to play,” Sims said. “Get as much reps as I can get. Travel ball (with Burlington-based Dirtbags) comes first. Other than that, I’ll play.”
Post 81 has been encouraging moments despite the numbers crunch.
“It is very hard,” King said. “I think it’s the quality over the quantity.”
Holland had a limited role as a Lenoir Community College freshman. He said he’s getting valuable time on the field.
“I’ve been working at it,” he said. “It’s not like the pitching is bad. It’s college-level pitching, most of it.”
Post 81 put together a four-game winning streak following nine losses to begin the season, which came with many of the players out of the lineup as their high school seasons wound down.
The winning streak included Friday night’s 4-1 home victory against Chatham County Post 305. King struck out seven batters in six shutout innings and drove in Liberty’s final run with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly.
While the players from Southern Alamance all have completed high school, there’s a variety of underclassmen dotting the roster with standouts from Eastern Randolph, Providence Grove, Faith Christian and Chatham Charter.
“We’re all here just to play ball,” King said. “There’s no really fitting in process. I think we’re all mature enough to come out here and compete as a team.”
Rose on roster
The Southern grads aren’t the only area players on an American Legion roster.
Chatham County has former Burlington Christian Academy catcher and pitcher Nathan Rose on its roster. Rose, a Guilford College freshman for the 2025 season, took the pitching loss vs. Post 81 on Friday while allowing one earned run in five innings.
