Sports

Then there were two, Part I

• It’s been 20 years since the last time a Westwood baseball team reached the state title game, and this year’s Wildcats — a squad composed of six determined seniors, an overdue coach and a supporting cast like no other — seemed destined to finally end the drought.

Derek Barichello

It’s no secret by now: The last time Westwood School won a state baseball championship was way back in 1988.

And in those days, eight teams made the playoffs, it was single elimination and pitchers went 21 innings in a week.

It’s true, just ask “Mr. 21” himself.

“Ah, man, I don’t know where to start,” said former Westwood pitcher Tommy Pinson, who pitched all 21 innings of a three-game playoff run to guide Westwood to its only baseball title 20 years ago. “I can tell you a lot of things about those ballgames. That was just a fun time. I pitched the first game on a Tuesday and felt fine, and Friday I felt really good, but Saturday I had nothing left and all I could do was throw strikes.”

These days, times have changed, and Pinson’s 21-inning performance had everything to do with that.

After 20 years without even winning a playoff series and after enduring an 0-51 streak from 2000-04, Westwood is back in the GISA A state championship — advancing this time out of a 16-team bracket — as the Wildcats will meet Flint River Academy (also nicknamed the Wildcats) starting with Game 1 today at 4 p.m. in Woodbury and concluding with Games 2 and 3 Saturday at noon in a best-of-three series, rather than single elimination like the last time Westwood achieved state championship glory.

But make no mistake: There is still some of that same old magic alive in Camilla.

During this year’s run, Westwood ace Clark Phelps amazingly threw all 10 innings in Game 1 of the semifinals against No. 1 David Emanuel to capture a win.

While it certainly wasn’t 21 innings, it could have been more if it wasn’t for Pinson’s “Mr. 21” performance 20 years ago. Immediately after Pinson’s amazing playoff outing, GISA changed its rules so that no pitcher can throw more than 10 innings, limiting Phelps’ participation in the Final Four series last week.

“Oh, everyone was pretty upset,” said 1988 Westwood head coach Tim Pinson, who was Tommy’s older brother and current Baconton Charter ace Tyler Pinson’s father. “The next year in the coaches’ meeting, we heard all kinds of complaining. I guess I can understand, all it took for us was one good pitcher and he was a lefty. It made us pretty tough to beat.”

During that 1988 run, Tommy remembers just throwing strikes and letting the team behind him play defense. That team included Shane Brinson, who moved from shortstop to catcher for the playoffs, Brian Brooks at first base, Paul Bledsoe at second base, Gabe Council at third base, Britt Stills at shortstop, Van Bundy, Robert Hilliard and Jason West all in the outfield.

And filling in at second base was even a young girl — Mia Moir.

“We were lucky to win that championship,” said Tommy, who took the summer off from baseball but played the next year for American Legion Post 30, where he was drafted by the New York Mets organization. “All I threw was backdoor curveballs. Our catcher (Shane Brinson), we just quit calling signs. I think I threw one fastball the whole state championship and the umpire missed the call. We got just enough offense to win each game.”

Since Tommy went on to play professionally for a year-and-a-half in the Mets’ farm system, Tim is thankful the performance did not blow Tommy’s arm.

“I remember having to ice him down after every game,” Tim laughed. “Nobody else in their right mind would throw a guy 21 innings, but he was my little brother. I knew he could handle it.”

That year, the Wildcats finished second in their region to Randolph-Southern, similar to this year’s team that finished second in Region 3 to Terrell Academy, who was eliminated in the semifinals by Flint River in three games.

In 1988, they felt fortunate since the Patriots lost in their opening round to a devastating pitcher from another school.

“He would’ve beaten us,” admitted Tommy, who was unable to recall the ace’s name who beat the Pats.

However, with the format changes, this year's Westwood squad will have to see the devastating pitcher that knocked out Terrell. And that lefty's name is Jay Hamlett.

Hamlett won Game 1 against Terrell, allowing one run, four hits and striking out 11 batters against the Eagles’ potent lineup. He returned the next day to record the save in Game 3.

"He's going to be tough," Westwood coach Al Timmerman said. "We're just going to have to get ahead in the count and battle."

Timmerman will counter with aces Phelps in Game 1, Brett Shiver in Game 2 — and with Lee Jacobs’ recent performance in the deciding game against David Emanuel, a 9-6 Westwood win — he will be available in the series.

Now, after all the history, the long drought since 1988 and all the final week practices, it comes down to one series.

“Our assistant coach told them right after graduation,” Timmerman began, “ ‘You probably won’t remember anything from your graduation ceremony but you will remember this playoff run for the next 20 years of your life.’ ... We want to remember it as champions."

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