S&W Motor Lines was the Palomino team to beat back in ’85

The Guilford Patriots and the Greensboro Batting Center Shockers are getting ready for the Palomino regional tournament that gets under way Friday night at Stoner-White Stadium in Jaycee Park. Teams from Lynnhaven, Virginia and Salisbury, Maryland will also be in town for the event.

Way back in 1985 they were playing the East Zone tournament at Stoner-White and the team to beat then was S&W Motor Lines. The winner of the Zone would move on to represent us at the Palomino World Series August 8-15 in Cincinnati.

The five teams vying for the trip to Cinncy were Cauques, Puerto Rico; Queens:Long Island, N.Y.; Hagerstown, Maryland; Johnson City, Tennessee; and Greensboro’s S&W Motor Lines.

S&W lost their first game on Friday to Queens, N.Y. 4-3, even though Jim Knight had a three-run homer. On to the loser’s bracket S&W beat Hagerstown 8-0. Harry Parrish had a solo HR to keep coach David Morgan’s team looking up.

On Saturday S&W eliminated Puerto Rico 8-2. Lindsey “Boocat” Foster was the star for S&W in the field while Parrish stayed red-hot at the plate. Later that day S&W sent Johnson City home, winning by a 2-1 count and Doug Jones got the win.

Sunday afternoon Queens, N.Y. earned the trip to the World Series stopping Greensboro’s S&W Motor Lines for a second time, again S&W goes down 4-3.

John and Jeannie Seagraves received a plaque for loyal dedication to Palomino baseball and David Swaim was named the league’s top hitter batting .518.

Good baseball back in ’85 and they tell me it will be even better in 2007 with the Patriots and Shockers trying to move on.