Troy (Ala.) Post 70 coach says program pleased with recent success.
After years of heartbreak in national American Legion Baseball competition, the state of Alabama has rewritten that history with a remarkable recent run by Troy (Ala.) Post 70.
This summer, for the second time in three years, Troy begins the season as the defending American Legion World Series champion.
Coach Ross Hixon doesn't take the success for granted as he prepares to make another title run in 2025. That’s because as recently as three summers ago, Alabama teams were known for their national tournament disappointments.
When Troy won the 2022 ALWS, it was Alabama’s first national champion since Tuscaloosa Post 34 won the state’s first ALWS title in 1967.
In between, Tuscaloosa (twice), Huntsville, Dothan (twice) and Troy had advanced to regional championship games only to come up just shy of a trip to the ALWS.
“I knew Alabama didn’t have a great deal of history in the World Series when we first got here in 2022,” Hixon said. “I don’t think you fully appreciate how special it is to be there until you get there. We also know we’re not going to be able to go to Shelby (N.C., home of the ALWS) every year. That’s the harsh part.
“Our goal is still to get there but every summer is different. You’ve got to figure out what your team is like every summer.”
Troy is already on an historic run and can add more to it with another appearance and a title.
Last year, Post 70 became the 11th team to make three straight ALWS appearances and can join Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72 as the only teams with four straight appearances. Brooklawn went five straight years from 2011 to 2015 and four straight from 1998 to 2001.
Additionally, Troy will seek to join Oakland (Calif.) Post 337 (1949-50); Cincinnati (Ohio) Post 50 (1957-58); West Covina (Calif.) Post 790 (1970-71); Rio Piedras (P.R.) Post 146 (1973-74); Brooklawn (2013-14); and Idaho Falls (Idaho) Post 56 (2019, 2021) as back-to-back ALWS champions. The 2020 ALWS was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five players are back from last year’s team as Troy pursues another title run.
“Obviously now there’s a higher expectation level that we wouldn’t have had without the last three years,” said Hixon, who played for former Tuscaloosa and Troy championship-winning coach John Rushing. “I always tell Coach Rushing that I give him a lot of credit for jump-starting this program in Troy. There was obviously a Post 70 program before him, but he really resurrected it and got it going, and it’s grown and grown from there.
“Without the years that he put in, we wouldn’t be having the years we’ve had. That definitely is not forgotten.”
A year ago, Troy’s lone loss in Shelby came in an historic 14-inning, 5-4 defeat to Fargo (N.D.) Post 2.
The game was the longest in ALWS history as it lasted 6 hours, 11 minutes, including a lengthy rain delay.
It also left both teams exhausted.
One of Troy’s five returning players, pitcher-infielder Brady Richardson, strained his hamstring in the 14-inning defeat before returning to be the starting pitcher in the 5-3 championship game win over Midland (Mich.) Post 165.
Richardson, shortstop Evan Taylor, outfielder Haze McCorkel and pitchers Jackson Killcreas and Easton Walsh are the five returning players who will be fortified by additions from Troy’s 17-and-under Legion team that has won two of the last three Alabama state titles.
“Those five will be really big pieces for our team this summer, and I think we’ll have a good group this season,” Hixon said.
Hixon says the goal is again to advance to Shelby and pursue ALWS history.
“When you go to Shelby — and I thought this in ‘22 when we first made it — you can easily get addicted to it,” Hixon said. “Even if we didn’t make it ever again after ‘22, I said it would definitely not be my last time there. If you like baseball, it’s just a super fun experience to be part of and just go watch.”
- Baseball