The 2020 edition of the Grand Slam Triangle Classic is officially in the books. The tournament, which brought together a plethora of Division III teams, including some of the nation’s top programs, took place in Raleigh, North Carolina over the weekend.
A tournament that began more than a decade ago as a 3- or 4-team affair, the Triangle Classic is the brainchild of William Peace head coach Charlie Dobbins, who also operates the Grand Slam facility in Raleigh. Dobbins has organized and helmed the tournament since its inception.
Christopher Newport, Arcadia, and Piedmont College kicked off the tournament on Friday, playing true round-robin style on the opening day. CNU was one of four teams in the Triangle Classic field who were ranked in the latest edition of the NFCA Coaches Poll; the Captains, coming in at #2 in that same poll, were the highest-ranked squad playing in Raleigh.
In addition to the Captains, the weekend field also included 6th-ranked Emory; #12 Randolph-Macon; and #13 Rowan, in addition to Kean and Lynchburg, who both received votes in the February 25th coaches poll.
Kean joined Christopher Newport as the only teams to finish the weekend undefeated; thanks to their early arrival, CNU finished 6-0 in the tournament and now stand at 10-0 on the year. Kean went 4-0 during their North Carolina excursion, and are now 8-0 on the season.
Margie Acker, who has spent more than two decades as the Kean head coach, liked what she saw from her team through the course of the weekend. “We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well, we’re being aggressive on the base paths, and we look to pick up extra bags, and we’ve been doing that so far through our first few games,” Acker said. “[I want to see us] capitalize with runners in scoring percentage, keep battling… I think we do a really good job of coming out and playing hard every single day.”
Along with the pair of undefeated teams, just two other teams finished the weekend with a record above .500: Randolph-Macon and Lynchburg each dropped a single game to head home with a 3-1 tournament record. Rowan and Arcadia finished the weekend at 2-2, while six teams left Raleigh with a sub-.500 mark during their time at the Triangle Classic.
Following her team’s 2-2 result on the weekend, Arcadia head coach Sarah Colletti still took some positives from her program’s showing. “We’ve never played in a pre-Florida tournament, and the reason that we’re down here [is that]we’ll have never been more prepared to go to Florida now,” Colletti said. “A good amount of freshmen got in and saw playing time, and I’m trying to get them into some of these situations so that when it comes to conference, they’re ready. I’m not totally happy with 2-2, but I saw some things that we have to continue to work on… I am walking away from the tournament just happy with the experience that my kids gained, and for that part of it, I’m very happy.”
Piedmont College head coach Terry Martin – himself a veteran of more than two decades leading his program – entered the weekend 2-0 on the year, but still with a lot of unknowns on his team. “We’re very young, and we’ve had a lot of injuries,” Martin said. “We came in not knowing exactly what we had, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Our pitching’s doing pretty well, our hitting could be a bit better, but it’s good competition – Charlie always does a great job of organizing this tournament, and you come up here knowing that you’ve got to play ball and can’t mess around.”
While injuries are never something that a team wants to have to deal with, Martin was pleased with the emergence of some of his young players. “There have been some freshmen that we’re pleasantly surprised with,” he noted, “They’ve come through with the bats, and they’re playing good defense.”
Per tournament director Jill Smedley, the final win-loss records of each participating team in the 2020 edition of the Triangle Classic:
- Christopher Newport 6-0
- Kean 4-0
- Randolph-Macon 3-1
- Lynchburg 3-1
- Arcadia 2-2
- Rowan 2-2
- Piedmont 2-4
- William Peace 1-3
- NC Wesleyan 1-3
- Randolph 1-3
- Emory 0-2
- McDaniel 0-4
