Matthew Crownover will lead the Ringgold Tigers into a rematch today of last year’s state-finals series against Columbus High. Staff File Photo.RINGGOLD, Ga. – Columbus High School can be a very intimidating place to play a baseball game. After all, the Blue Devils have appeared in nine of the past 10 Class AAA championship series, winning four, including last year’s two-game sweep of Ringgold.
It will be a different Ringgold team that takes the field today in the start of the teams’ second-round playoff series. The players are basically the same – neither team lost much to graduation – but the Tigers now have a different perspective, a different kind of motivation.
Baseball isn’t just about winning and losing anymore. The Tigers carry the hopes of an entire area with them.
That in itself can be intimidating for any teenager – and most certainly a distraction – but Ringgold’s players have embraced the responsibility of helping their town carry on after a tornado two weeks ago ripped it apart.
“We kind of use it as more motivation than a distraction,” senior catcher Caleb Jones said Monday. “We’ve all pulled together, and hopefully we can give the community a reason to smile.”