Gray Williams, Ethan Evans and Joe Quinlan stood out in the left field grass staring out towards the scoreboard taking in their final moments together with East Hamilton's baseball team.
The Hurricanes season came to a heartbreaking finish as a terrific pitching performance ended with a 3-1 home defeat in Monday's Region 3-AAA semifinals against South Doyle.
Williams was sensational in relief with 13 strikeouts over eight innings as the right hander looked untouchable the first seven innings before a chopper up the middle bounced just out of the reach of a drawn-in infield to plate two runs in the final frame. Both runs were unearned for the East Hamilton ace who struck out 80 batters over 43 innings this season and carried a 0.65 earned run average with only four earned runs allowed.
"There were times during the season I thought it would have been best to sit out and recover from a torn hamstring, but that feeling never lasted long because I wanted to be out there," said Williams, who initially tore his hamstring on March 12 but continued battling to finish out the season.
"I spent most every day after school before practice with our trainer and I would go home and do everything I could to make sure I could keep playing. I just love baseball so much and it's why I kept going. I want to go to college and pitch too. There's nothing better than playing this game."
Ethan Evans hit a double in his final high school game as the senior catcher played a pivotal part in the Hurricanes' success along with classmate and centerfielder Joe Quinlan, who had two hits in extra innings.
East Hamilton finished the year 17-15 overall and won the program's first district championship since 2015.
"To have just three seniors is not a big class, but the impact they made carried us so far this season," Hurricanes coach Matt Ramsey said. "They were such impactful players and we are really going to miss them. Gray pitched unbelievably again for us today and so did Jase Philips. You can't ask for anything more out of our pitchers. Credit to their guys, they threw a heck of a ball game too."
East Hamilton's Jack McBrayer starred in the field at shortstop as the sophomore made play-after-play.
BASEBALL
> Sale Creek 3, South Pittsburg 2: Drew Hillian scored the eventual game-winner on a throwing error after Jacob Elrod had singled to advance the runner to third. Camden Penny drove in a run and also pitched five strong innings, allowing just four hits and two earned runs for the Region 3-A semifinal win. Elrod also plated a run for the Panthers, who advance to host Lookout Valley in Wednesday's region championship. Luke Rector and Britton Case each drove in a run for the Pirates.
> Lookout Valley 16, Whitwell 11: The Yellow Jackets scored in each of the first four innings, including a seven-run second, to claim the Region 3-A semifinal win. Jacob Winchester homered, while Jacob Rollins went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Christian Chandler was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and earned the pitching win.
Region 2-2A semifinals
> Loudon 5, Polk County 0
> Marion County 8, Sweetwater 1
Region 3-2A semifinals
> Watertown 10, Sequatchie County 0
Region 3-3A semifinals
> Lenoir City 5, Signal Mountain 4
Region 3-4A semifinals
> Walker Valley 12, Franklin County 2
> Bradley Central 12, Coffee County 2: Karter Howard drove in four runs and Cooper Casteel earned the win to lead the Bears into Wednesday's region title game.
SOFTBALL
Region 3-1A semifinal
> Sale Creek 9, South Pittsburg 0
Region 2-2A semifinals
Meigs County 8, Polk County 1
Marion County 8, Sweetwater 2
> Bledsoe County 9, Watertown 2: Ella Baker scattered five hits and struck out 11 to help the Lady Warriors claim the Region 3-2A semifinal win. Baker also had three hits and three RBIs, as did teammate Gracie White as Bledsoe scored four runs in both the third and fourth innings to pull away.
Region 3-3A semifinals
> East Hamilton 4, Sequoyah 2
Region 3-4A semifinals
> Coffee County 8, Walker Valley 2
> Warren County 6, Rhea County 2