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Compiled by Allan Simpson (PG Crosschecker) / Andrew Hartwell (College Summer Ball Blogspot)

The Forest City Owls completed a magical, storybook-quality 2009 season late last week by winning two games on the final night of the Coastal Plain League season to not only capture the league’s Petitt Cup championship but successfully finish the year as the nation’s No. 1-ranked summer college team. The Owls swept the Peninsula Pilots in the best-of-3 final, winning both games 5-1, to conclude the season with a 51-9 record.

After posting a 46-9 mark during the regular season and setting numerous league records in the process, the Owls ran the table in the playoffs, winning all five games. Their 51 wins overall topped all summer teams.

Forest City was ranked No. 1 in the PG Crosschecker/College Summer Ball Blogspot weekly ranking of the nation’s Top 25 summer teams entering Friday’s doubleheader sweep, and it was a mere formality that the Owls concluded the season at No. 1. Competition is complete in all of the nation’s summer college leagues.

The Owls held off a charge by the Cape Cod League champion Bourne Braves and the New England Collegiate League champion Newport Gulls to secure an unofficial national title. Bourne finished No. 2 and Newport No. 3.

Appropriately, righthanders Ryan Arrowood and Spencer Patton, the Owls record-setting starting pitchers, took care of business to nail down the title.

Arrowood, a rising sophomore at Appalachian State, finished off a perfect season with a dominating performance in the opener, which had been suspended after just one inning a day earlier. Coming on in relief in the second with his team trailing 1-0, Arrowood tossed eight shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six. He retired 11 consecutive batters to close the game.

A local product who attended nearby Rutherfordton-Spindale High, the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Arrowood won all 10 games he started in the regular season to tie a CPL record, and picked up two more wins in the postseason.

Patton, who went undrafted in June after his junior season at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, was every bit as dominant as Arrowood in the clincher. He allowed one run over eight innings, striking out 11, as the Owls won their first league title in franchise history. During the regular season, Patton went 9-0 and set a CPL record with 110 strikeouts. He struck out 17 more in two post-season starts.

Between them, Arrowood and Patton went 23-0 on the summer.

The Owls franchise, which moved to Forest City from Spartanburg, S.C., following the 2007 season, had not won a playoff game in three previous tries entering the 2009 season. After a spectacular run in the regular season, the No. 1-seeded Owls completed an incredible year by going unbeaten in the post-season.

NOTE: With the summer college season now complete, we’ll begin unveiling our comprehensive rankings (and scouting reports) of the top major-league prospects who played this summer in the various different leagues. Those rankings will begin appearing on Thursday. We’ll also provide our take on the top 25 players this season in summer ball—from strictly a performance standpoint.