When Richmond Hill beat Campbell in the opening round of the GHSA Class 7A state playoffs first year Coach Hill Thomas said it meant more than just a chance to play state power Parkview in the second round.
“At the end of the day however far we make it our program is going to be in a better place in the years to come,” said Thomas. “When you think about it most of our team has not been in this situation.
“We got an extra week of practice,” Thomas said. “We had 11 jayvee guys up right now (who practiced with the varsity). They’ll be competing for a jersey next year. I think from a program and culture building aspect beating Campbell makes all that more important.”
What the Wildcats got at Parkview was a close up look at what a championship team looks like as the Panthers put on a show in cruising to 11-1 and 13-1 wins last Friday.
With pro or college prospects—shortstop Colin Houck is expected to go in the top 10 in June’s major league draft and several others have committed to major college programs—seemingly at every position Parkview (28-5) justified its No. 1 ranking and edged closer to its fourth state championship in the last five tournaments, ninth in school history.
The Panthers wasted no time on jumping on Augusta University bound Garrett Wright as they got to the senior lefthander for three runs in the first and second innings and counted three home runs and a triple among their 10 hits. Houck had a homer and triple to drive in four runs.
In the second game junior lefty Bryce Hendricks had thrown a credible three innings when the dam burst in the fourth. Parkview, leading 3-1, got to Hendrix and reliever Blayne Newman for 10 runs to end it early.
Richmond Hill loses eight seniors: Ty Goldrick, Wright, Newman, Mason Wilcox, Hunter Legas, Brandon Kessler, Joseph Baker and Joseph Gibson.
Bryan County (15-15) had similar issues as the Redskins went on the road to face Crawford County in an opening round series of the Class A-D1 playoffs and were quickly eliminated as they were beaten 6-3 and 15-3.
The Redskins, who reached the second-round last year, jumped out a quick 2-0 first inning lead in the opener but couldn’t maintain the momentum.
Sean Hill had a tworun single with two outs in the first and then after Crawford tied the game, 2-2, Bryan County went ahead 3-2 in the fifth when Aidan Martin scored on Konnor Leggett’s sacrifice fly.
The No. 10 Eagles (24-7) wasted no time in responding as they scored three times in the bottom of the inning and then tacked on a run in the sixth to lock it up.
Crawford jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second game before taking advantage of a Bryan County miscue to put up 10 runs that were simply too much to overcome.
The Redskins got the first two batters in the third but then a passed ball on a third strike put the batter on and that was followed by six base hits, three walks and a hit batsman before the third out was made.
If Coach Justin Covington has any consolation, it’s that he loses only Leggett and Martin off this year’s team which had its peaks and valleys highlighted by a mid-season seven game winning streak. The Redskins lost their final four games.