Beaufort County’s Post 15 Junior American Legion baseball team experienced a remarkable rise from nonexistence to top contender in the area. It was the result of tireless efforts from the coaching staff of Glenn Marsh, Kevin Cutler, Rick Anderson, Tim Little and Brandon Marsh.

Near the end of the 2015 high school baseball campaign, Marsh, Cutler and Little got together and decided they wanted to provide an avenue for the county’s top players to continue playing. Washington had its scholastic summer league, but they wanted to offer opportunities to players from Southside, Northside and Terra Ceia, too.

“We thought there was a core group of kids around Beaufort County that wanted to play some extra baseball,” Marsh said. “Kevin and Tim agreed that we ought to hold tryouts and see who comes out. It flew from there.”

The team was assembled. Over the course of that summer, the hard work of both the coaching staff and the county’s most dedicated players combined for an incredible two-year stretch for the Pirates. They went 30-9 in that span.

The driving force behind the early and often success that Post 15 found was its core of two-year players: Brock Marsh, Brantley Cutler, Tanner Alligood, Austin Roscoe, Hunter Sparks, Cooper Anderson, Logan Little, Cody Godley, Drew Ferguson, Tripp Barfield and Matthew Black. Each played an instrumental role in the team’s immediate rise.

The Pirates, understandably, didn’t know much about what to expect going into their first season. The coaches had an idea of what the competition level would be like, but not much beyond that. The approach going into their first season was less focused on the wins and losses and more oriented toward having fun and improving as both athletes and people.

“I knew a little about the competition level because I had been an assistant coach when Brandon was coming through,” Marsh said. “I told Kevin and Tim it was going to be a higher level because you’re playing against each county’s best baseball players.

“Our expectations were that we didn’t have any. We wanted the kids to have fun and take it almost one day at a time. We wanted to teach the kids how to come together as a community and play for your county.”

Each player embraced that idea fully. After having spent the months prior playing under the banner of their respective high schools, each player had to adjust to having new teammates and representing his entire county.

“I just wanted to go out there and show out. Every time I was playing for the county, I wasn’t playing for a school anymore,” Sparks said. He was the only player on the team from Southside.

“It was more than just having fun. It was having fun and winning.”

It wasn’t very deep into the season that the coaches and players alike knew that they had something special on their hands. They had a grasp of the team’s talent coming into the season. Once the wins began to pile up, it was apparent they could take the conference by storm.

“I knew the guys we had on our team were going to be good ball players,” Godley said. “I felt pretty confident going into it, but, after the first couple of games, I really realized that we could really go far with this team and be a really competitive team in the area.”

Post 15 finished its inaugural campaign as Area 1 champions. While they were knocked out of the postseason tournament rather quickly, the Pirates still had a ton of confidence in what they accomplished.

“We gave it our all every game. When you came to a game, you were getting a show,” Sparks said. “You were getting your money’s worth. We played our hearts out every game.”

The first season’s success, coupled with the hasty exit from the postseason, only fueled the fire. They returned a year later, knowing exactly what to expect and what they were capable of.

The Pirates continued to rise from there.