Sumter will have Junior team in independent baseball league

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Sumter will not only have a Senior baseball team in an independent league this summer, but it will have a Junior team as well

Former Sumter American Legion head Post 15 coach Curtis Johnson has helped put together a Junior team in the South Carolina American League. The league is being put together by Florence Post 1 head coach Derick Urquhart in response to the American Legion national organization canceling the season due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We just saw a need for kids in that age range to have somewhere to play," Johnson said. "Derick Urquhart saw a need to put together the league for kids, and we want to help some kids."

Johnson will be helped by Lakewood High head coach Bill DeLavan, Robbie Mooneyham and Dean Pack, both of whom assisted him with the P-15's.

The Senior team began practice last week. The Junior team will hold its first practice on Monday at 4 p.m. at Patriot Park SportPlex.

The Junior team will be open to players who are at least 14 years of age and were born no earlier than Sept. 1, 2002. Since it is not affiliated with American Legion, the team is open to any player from a local school who falls into that age group.

"Since these kids had a lost high school season, and they're allowing youth sports to happen, we want to give them an opportunity to play."

The Senior team will be called the Sumter P-15's, and it began practice last week. The Junior team will be called the Sumter Flyers in honor of the last minor league team to play at Riley Park in 1991.

Johnson, who was five years old at the time of the Flyers' lone season in Sumter, came up with the idea of the team name. He pointed out that Sumter High School baseball and football coach Joe Norris played on that team.

Dalzell-Shaw Post 175 will have a team in the Senior league, but Manning-Santee Post 68 will not.

The Senior league will have at least 20 teams and could add a couple of more, according to Urquhart. The number of Junior teams is still being determined.

Urquhart said league play will begin July 6 or 7. However, teams can play non-conference games beginning on June 15.