Dozens of spectators packed onto the hill overlooking Bel Air’s softball field for Rising Sun’s regular season finale against the Bobcats on Monday. Mixed in with the orange, black and white of the Rising Sun faithful, streaks of red and blue filled the crowd.
The colors are that of the Maryland Legends and Lady Dukes travel baseball and softball programs, two premier travel teams based in Cecil County. The spectators were there to honor Legends founder, Ed Lynch, a staple of Cecil County’s baseball and softball community for decades.
He died over the weekend at the age of 67.
“I’m just overwhelmed with the amount of support and love that I have from my family, my softball and baseball family,” Jordan Lynch, one of Ed’s five children and a senior with Rising Sun softball, said. “I’m just eternally grateful for the people that are here for me and I know will always be there for me.”
Ed Lynch initially founded Maryland Legends in 1996 as a travel softball program. The Legends eventually partnered with the Lady Dukes in 2020, a national travel softball organization with ties to Duke University. Kristi Wyatt, business and fundraising manager for Maryland Legends, said the goal of the merger was to help the organization get into bigger tournaments, which in turn allowed its athletes to be scouted by more schools.
Since its inception, Legends has helped over 200 baseball and softball players from across the Mid-Atlantic region earn college scholarships. For Ed, that was always the goal of his travel teams; to help athletes compete at the next level and get a college education.
Erin Page saw that first-hand during her time as a player and a coach under Ed. Page started travel ball with the Legends during her freshman year of high school in 2006 and by the time she graduated, Page earned a scholarship to play softball at Holy Family University in Philadelphia.
Page was a four-year captain at Holy Family, an accomplishment she felt came from the work ethic Ed taught her on the softball diamond.
“You’re just at a different level, a different player, a different person,” Page said of the impact Ed Lynch had on her. “I truly believe that was because of Eddie.”
Even after Page left his program for college, Ed never hesitated to reach out about her time on the college softball diamond and her life outside of the sport.
“Playing for Eddie made me a better person and a stronger person,” Page said. “His relentlessness just made you a better person.”
Ed’s program had an impact on Wyatt’s own family. Her son, Danny, is in his freshman year with UMBC baseball and began with the Legends in his elementary school years. Wyatt said the lessons Ed instilled in her son were as much about life as they were being a skilled athlete. To Wyatt, Ed was a “disciplinarian” who taught her son how to be a “good man”.
“It’s all the life skills that all kids need outside of baseball and softball,” Wyatt said.
The Legends recently completed a wall of fame at its indoor practice facility to honor those who earned a college scholarship. Despite countless tournament victories in the organization’s history, Wyatt noted trophies come second to the true purpose of the program.
“We’ve won so many tournaments and so many trophies in 30 years and we don’t save any trophies,” Wyatt said. “[Ed’s] trophy was seeing these kids go through the program and get a college scholarship.”
Helmets with the word “Legends” or “Dukes” are abundant across various levels of softball and baseball in Cecil County. The organization estimates 70-85% of its athletes are from the county. Close to half of Rising Sun softball’s roster is made up of current members of the travel organization.
Senior Josalyn McMillan played for Ed the past 12 years and is set to attend Shepherd University to play softball next spring. Fellow senior Sam Dixon played under Ed for the past eight years. She is committed to play softball at Nova Southeastern University. Dixon and McMillan said their travel ball head coach always wanted the best for his athletes. Even when he was hard on them, they viewed it as a way of showing how much he cared about shaping them into better ball players and people.
“He cared about us and he shaped us into the people we are today,” Dixon said.
“He pushed you so hard and we wouldn’t be where we are today without him,” McMillan added.
Rising Sun senior Bri Cole started with the Legends as a pitcher 10 years ago. Cole shifted to catcher as her time with the team went on. She learned how to read hitters and what situations can play out in the field from Ed, who caught during his years out in the field. Cole is committed to play softball at Goldey-Beacom College.
For Cole, molding the future generations of athletes will be done to honor his legacy.
“He’s the person who builds all the small kids, like everyone that came today, he built them and he is going to continue with everyone else chiming in to help,” Cole said. “No one is going to replace coach Ed, nobody. We’re all going to help stay put together, stay strong for him just to build all these little kids that didn’t get to experience much of his talent.”
Rising Sun’s athletes felt playing Monday’s game was what Ed would have wanted them to do. The Tigers defeated Bel Air 16-1 and completed an undefeated regular season.
“I have so much admiration for these girls, me and coach [Mike McBride] both do. It didn’t surprise us that this team wants to take the field, that is who they are,” Rising Sun head coach Paul Taylor said. “They have determination every time they take the field.”
Each and every time Jordan stepped up to bat, the family members, fans and athletes in attendance made sure to applaud the Virginia Tech-bound infielder. She finished the game with two hits. A triple into the right-center gap on her fourth plate appearance prompted an eruption from the crowd and an emotional response from the Rising Sun senior as she stopped at third base.
“Growing up, my dad told me every day that he was proud of me, it doesn’t matter if I had a bad game or a great game,” Jordan Lynch said. “He never failed to tell me that he was proud of me, so that helped me feel confident all the time and I know he is still proud of me to this day.”
In the home half of the fourth, Jordan took the field at a different position, rather than her typical infield spot. She donned leg guards, a chest protector and a catcher’s mask in the final two innings, just like her father did for many years at Rising Sun High School, Cecil College and in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
“I just know my dad would have been so happy,” Lynch said of playing catcher in the last two innings. “He wanted me to be a catcher literally since I was born, I just could feel him looking over me and smiling down on me and just so happy that I got to do it.”
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