FL Florence Y'alls

A Look Back At The Freedom's 2009 Season

September 16, 2009 - Frontier League (FL)
Florence Y'alls News Release


FLORENCE, KY - In looking back on the Florence Freedom's 2009 season, the final result leaves a bit of a bitter-sweet taste in ones mouth.

The season, part bitter because the team finished seven games out of that still elusive first playoff berth, but even more bitter for one of the same reasons that made the season sweet. When the team finally hit their stride, found their swagger, they simply ran out of games.

After starting August 0-6 and sitting at 31-37 with only 28 games to play, the Freedom could have easily packed it in. But instead, they responded, finishing 18-10 and at one point strung a nine game winning streak together and a 6-1 road trip that included a stop through Kalamazoo who finished with a league best 58-38 record.

Overall the Freedom finished at 49-47, and a winning season does leave a sweeter taste than 2008's 47-49 record. The campaign marked just the second time in franchise history Florence finished with an above .500 record (2005 the team went 53-42).

New Field Manager Toby Rumfield's constructed team proved to be the most balanced in the entire Frontier League, finishing as the only team in the league to hit more than 100 home runs (122) and steal more than 100 bases (113).

On the pitching side, the Freedom excelled in not allowing hits. Florence posted a .257 batting average against which was good for fourth best in the league behind only Lake Erie (.244), Windy City (.256) and Kalamazoo (.256), all playoff teams.

Also, the team thrived when getting an early lead, finishing 31-12 when scoring the game's first run, but then went only 18-35 when falling behind first.

Walks and errors proved to be killers for the Freedom in 2009. Only Gateway (428) and Washington (427) walked more hitters than Florence (422) and the Freedom averaged 1.3 errors per game, ninth in the 12 team Frontier League.

When it came to individual performances, this season saw five players and two coaches make it to the all-star game. Billy Mottram, Brad Hough, Justin Pickett and Ryan Basham represented the Freedom as position players. Demetrius Banks (7-4, 3.53 ERA) was the sole pitcher to make the team, and Rumfield and Greg Stone went as part of Kalamazoo Manager Fran Riordan's coaching staff. Basham left Rockford with hardware after being named the MVP in the East's 5-2 win, becoming the Freedom's third straight player to claim the award (Reggie Watson in '07 and Angel Molina in '08).

Numerous offensive career records and single season records fell. In his third season with the Freedom, Basham took over nine major franchise career records; games played (283), at-bats (1084), runs (171), hits (322), doubles (70), home runs (44), RBIs (191), total bases (528) and walks (145). Billy Mottram (30) broke Garth McKinney's (28) single season stole base record set just last year. Mottram also broke another one of McKinney's single season records set in 2008, but he would have preferred not to, Mottram struck out 103 times. But, the all-star did become just the third player in Freedom history to play in all 96 games. Justin Pickett got into the record books by hitting 26 home runs, tying Kelly Hunt's single season mark from 2008.

Everett Saul became the Freedom's wins leader for a single season with 12 and games started with 22. Saul finished 12-7 and third in the league in victories. Preston Vancil became the franchise's only player to toss a no-hitter on July 26 against the Traverse City Beach Bums.

Off the field, second year General Manager Kari Rumfield was recognized as the Frontier League Executive of the year. The Freedom watched their attendance grow from 2,013 per game to 2,219.

The Freedom now enter the offseason with momentum to build towards 2010. Florence should be able to retain a solid core of its 2009 roster including all-stars Mottram, Pickett and Basham who will all become 2-year status players (the league will move to a combination of six 2-year/veteran players next season) headlining the group. The pitching staff looks to be strong up top with Saul (12-7, 5.23 ERA, 1-Year), Vancil (6-4, 3.26 ERA, Rookie-2) and Chuck Tiffany (5-2, 4.23 ERA, 2-Year) leading the way for the starting rotation.

During the offseason the Florence Freedom can be reached at (859) 594-HITS or you can keep up to date with the team and promotion information by visiting FlorenceFreedom.com. Ticket information for the 2010 season will be available in the coming months, check the website for any ticket updates.

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Frontier League Stories from September 16, 2009


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