RINGGOLD, Ga. – It wasn’t necessarily revenge on the minds of the Jackson County Panthers when they took the baseball field Wednesday to face Ringgold in an elimination game in the GHSA Class AAA quarterfinals.
It was much more about wanting to earn respect.
Consider both goals met after the visiting Panthers rapped out 15 hits while using a two-home run, 4-for-4 effort from Chris Griggs and a complete-game four-hitter from pitcher Coleman Barbee to win 12-2 in six innings.
It’s the third consecutive series Jackson County has lost the first game and gone on to win the final two in dominating fashion. The No. 3 seed from Region 8 previously rallied past Region 5 runner-up Rockmart and Region 1 champion Appling County before taking out the Tigers, who won the Region 6 title and swept Banks County and Peach County in the first two rounds of state.
“There was a lot of emotion in the dugout from these kids,” Jackson County coach Tommy Fountain said. “Four years ago when these seniors were freshmen, we came up here and fought our tails off, but they were just better than we were.
“They had some really interesting things to say that day as we went through the (post-game) line, and the kids remembered that. Sometimes it’s nice to be able to, when you’re a program that’s growing, to be able to take care of some of the things that happened during that growth process. That was what this series was about for our kids. It wasn’t about revenge; it was about what a grown-up Jackson County looks like.”
The top four batters in the Jackson County lineup – Ty Smith, Brent Bowen, Griggs and Joel Ellis – reached base 15 times Wednesday, never giving Ringgold pitchers any breathing room. They scored two runs in the first inning off starter Rhett Baldwin, who pitched behind in the count for most of his four innings.
Still, the Tigers trailed just 3-2 after three innings, but it was that third frame that would haunt Ringgold coach Brent Tucker. A pair of infield errors and a four-pitch walk loaded the bases with no out and the heart of the order coming up.
Barbee, after a pep talk from Fountain, regrouped to strike out Ty Jones and Baldwin. The Tigers scored on a wild pitch, but after a walk reloaded the bases, Fountain got Hunter Foskey to ground into a force to end what could have been a big inning.
“It was a frustrating day at the plate, but the Barbee kid did a great job of working backwards,” Tucker said. “It seems every time we would get ahead in the count, he would come back with a breaking ball for a strike.
“We had the bases loaded a couple of times with the big part of the lineup up – and those guys have come through so often this year – but we only scratched one. I was hoping three, four, five and then we go, but their pitcher did a great job.”
Making matters worse, the Tigers put two more on with one out in the fourth, but Barbee again escaped with a strikeout and groundout before Griggs made it a 5-2 game with a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom half that chased Baldwin.
It was still a three-run game in the sixth when the Panthers used six singles and Griggs’ second homer, a two-run shot to center, to end the game early via the run rule.
“We were able to work out of some jams, but at the end we just weren’t able to get out of them anymore,” Tucker said. “This is a talented bunch, and the difference between a good team and a program is we’ll be back next year.
“These guys had a great season. They won 25 games this year, one of the top three win (total) seasons here ever. There is no way they need to go off this field with anything but positive thoughts. I mean, what a great season.”
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.