Four New Coaches For East and West Bladen Baseball and Softball Have Deeps Roots In Bladen County

Austin Smith
Mar 1
5 min read

Nathan Dowless (left), Josh Allen (middle), James Ben Daly (right), Clint Allen (not pictured)

Bladen County, NC - The 2025 baseball and softball seasons have kicked off at East Bladen and West Bladen except for East Bladen Softball, as a good number of the team is currently in the State Playoffs in Girls Basketball.

This year brings some new challenges, aspirations, and some new faces — all four teams will have new head coaches.

But these new coaches? They’re all homegrown.

Nathan Dowless, James Ben Daly, Josh Allen, and Clint Allen all grew up playing ball right here in Bladen County.

They’ve worn the uniforms, played in the rivalries, and now they’re back — this time as coaches, leading the next generation of Eagles and Knights.

Bladen County Roots and Bladenboro Championship

If you played baseball or softball in Bladen County, you probably know these names already — or at least the teams they played on.

In 1999, Josh Allen and James Ben Daly were on a Bladenboro High School team that made it all the way to the 1A State Championship, playing a three game series that’s still talked about.

"All three games went nine innings," Daly said. "All of them decided by one run. So that was crazy."

The next year, 2000, Nathan Dowless was part of the Bladenboro team that won the whole thing.

"The run to it was intense," Dowless said. "It seemed like the game before the state championship at Bladenboro was tough. The first two games were tight and the third game just kind of worked out. But it could’ve gone either way. Just luck of the draw, man. Evenly matched teams."

Josh Allen didn’t even wait a year after graduating to start coaching — he immediately helped Coach Joey Autry, the same coach who had just led him to the championship.

"As soon as I graduated, I was helping Joey," Allen said. "My brother was playing, so I helped coach right after high school. I’ve coached ever since in some shape, form, or fashion — church softball, women’s league, men’s league. Always stayed around the game."

Clint Allen, who graduated from West Bladen in 2012, came through after consolidation, but still grew up hearing about those championship teams, and most likely being coached by the participants at some point.

His time playing in Bladen County shaped how he looks at coaching today.

"The main thing is giving back to the community, where I came from, is something I hope to instill in the in the boys on the team too." said Clint Allen, "As they're coming up and learning, that's one of the goals is to help inspire them to be a contributor to their community."

Close Connections Between Players

Even though they now wear different colors, the connections between players and coaches on both sides run deep.

"On the baseball side, half our guys hang out with West Bladen guys," Daly said. "Same for softball," Dowless said. "I got three or four girls on my team that play on the same travel team with some of the West girls."

That doesn’t mean they take it easy on each other when the game starts.

"When they get between the lines, they’re all trying to win," Dowless said. "But when they walk out, they’re all buddies."

"We play West on their senior night May 1st," Daly said. "I guarantee when Garrett gets his name called, he’s gonna walk over to our dugout and hug some of our boys. That’s just how close this is."

East and West might be rivals, but in Bladen County, everybody knows everybody.

"Colton (Daly’s son) was just out here playing with Garrett and Josh Dawson from West before the season starts," Daly said. "They’re all close."

"It’s cool, man," Dowless said. "We all know each other, and we all care about these kids. I just think it’s cool."

Coaching Like They Were Coached

The three coaches on the back-to-back state 1A championship appearance teams shared one major influence: Coach Joey Autry.

The way he coached them back then still shapes how they coach now.

"I learned a lot from Coach Autry," Daly said. "I had him in baseball and he was my position coach in football too," Dowless added. "So I was around him a lot, man."

For Josh Allen, he mentioned his earlier mentors as well.

"My first coach was Pam Stephens in T-ball," Allen said. "Then Tim Benton in middle school. Then Coach Autry in high school."

Fundamentals, Fundamentals, Fundamentals

Every single coach agrees — fundamentals come first.

"Fundamentals," Daly said without hesitation when asked what he focuses on when developing young players.

"It helps so much when the freshmen already know the basics," Dowless said. "I want them to already know the basics when they show up," Allen said. "Numbered positions, knowing where to throw the ball when it’s hit — a lot of kids now don’t know that. Some of them have only played a year or two. Some are just starting as eighth or ninth graders."

At West Bladen, Clint Allen is grateful for the older players helping teach the younger ones directly.

"At fall workouts, we had seniors working with younger players side by side," Clint said. "That made a big difference."

More Than Just the Game

All four coaches believe their job goes beyond baseball and softball.

"Coaching is more than winning," Josh Allen said. "A lot of people don’t realize that. It’s about developing the next generation."

He shared a story that stuck with him:

"A couple years ago, outside Whiteville, I saw this older man with his mower stuck in a ditch. Cars just kept passing him. I turned around and stopped to help. He told me he’d been there 30 minutes and not one person had stopped. That’s the world we’re in now. And we’ve got to teach kids better than that."

What to Expect This Season

Here’s what each coach says about their team heading into the year:

East Bladen Softball (Nathan Dowless)

They are returning almost the whole team from last year, including their main pitcher.

Last year’s team won East Bladen Softball's first playoff game in 15 years.

"Our ace is a junior now," Dowless said. "She started 95% of our games last year. She’s got more help this year. I think we’ve got a legit shot to win conference."

East Bladen Baseball (James Ben Daly)

They lost almost the whole starting lineup from last year, only two returning starters, one being a junior and one a sopohomore, and just two seniors who did not previously start.

"I expect we will be fine. We’ll lose some games because we’re young," Daly said. "but I expect we will be smart, but we are young."

West Bladen Softball (Josh Allen)

They lost some seniors, have one varsity pitcher and a freshman pitcher. But the numbers were up at tryouts this year.

"We had 29 sign up, 20 showed up," Allen said. "That’s a lot better than we’ve had in the past, so I’m hopeful we can grow on that this year. We are kind of in a growing period."

West Bladen Baseball (Clint Allen)

They have a solid mix of strong senior leadership, and young talent. Clint Allen kept it short and sweet when asked about the expectation for the year. The goal is simple: win conference.