After a slow start to the season, Cary Post 67’s Junior American Legion baseball team is on a roll heading into the state tournament, which opens Saturday in Cary.

Despite stumbling through the first third of its schedule, coach Ron Powell’s squad rebounded to win 15 of the final 19 games of the regular season and six of its first seven postseason games to qualify for the tournament with a record of 29-12.

Even though this Bulls team is one of Powell’s youngest ever, hopes are high for Cary. The Bulls have played about 15 more games than average junior legion teams and that translates into experience.

“We’ve been tested,” Powell said. “We’ve played more games than any team in the state and as far as I know we’ve won more games than any team in the state. Our kids are very experienced. We’re young but obviously we’re a pretty good team. There are only two teams that went through the tournament undefeated and we’re one of them.

“I think we have a very competitive team. Some of the teams from the west are going to be very difficult to beat, coming in with big numbers and big records.”

Cary has been led this season by tough defense and the situational hitting of Darrus Evans and Michael D’Elia, both of whom are hitting in the .470s.

The Bulls started their postseason run by winning a conference qualifier on July 8, beating third-seeded West Raleigh 10-0 in the morning and fourth-seeded North Raleigh 10-1 in the evening.

Cary then advanced to the Eastern Area qualifier. After dropping its first game 11-9 to Wilson on July 11, Cary rallied to close out the qualifier with a 7-4 win over Northern Durham on July 12 and a 13-3 win over Clayton on Thursday.

With its second-place finish in the Eastern Area qualifier, Cary needed just two wins in the state qualifier to qualify for the state tournament. Cary earned its spot in the state tournament Saturday, beating Morehead City 4-1 and Scotland 5-3.

Joining Cary in the state tournament will be four other teams from the Eastern qualifier and three from the Western qualifier. The state tournament is being held in Cary for the first time in 34 years. The tournament will consist of two four-team brackets, Cary holding the No. 2 seed from the East.

The two brackets serve as double elimination tournaments with games on Saturday and Sunday. The winner from each bracket will advance to the final series next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

While Powell isn’t one for predictions, he believes the Bulls have a good chance.

“I know this,” he said, “We’ve got a one out of eight chance to win the state championship. We won it in 2002, we won it in 2004 and this is 2006. Even number years have been good to us in the past.”