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Little League, Junior
League, and Senior League
Before I played organized baseball, I used to play outside
by myself or with neighborhood kids. I liked watching the Atlanta
Braves and my favorite player was Dale Murphy. I cheered for the
Braves even though they were a bad team at the time. I started
playing organized baseball when I was 8 years old. I played for
the Northwest Little League district for the Red Sox. The first
year was a learning experience and I had a decent rookie year.
Every year afterwards, I would make the all-star team.
When I was 9 years old, we won the district all-star tournament
behind my pitching. When I was 10 years old, we had a
disappointing 3rd place finish.
My 11-year-old season was special for two reasons. First off, I
hit my first homerun during this season. Hitting a homerun for a
little league player is a feeling that is hard to describe. I can
still recall rounding the bases to this day and being so happy
that I was close to tears. I would go on to hit many more
homeruns. Even more special, this season I was drafted to play
with the 12-year-old all-star team. This was a huge honor because
the 12-year-old team was multi talented and vying for a chance to
go to the sub-state tournament and beyond. We won the district
tournament in dramatic fashion. We were losing to the Clarksville
National team by a run in the last inning with the count 3 balls
and 2 strikes and 2 outs to Shannon Schmittou who hit a long bomb
homerun to tie the game. We went on to win the game in the 9th
inning when Willie Weaver hit another homerun to give us the lead
for good. At the sub-state tournament, our aspirations to go to
the state tournament were short lived as an awesome Savannah team
put us out in two straight games.
My 12-year-old season was wonderful during the regular season
because I was a dominant player as a pitcher and especially a
hitter. I hit 12 homeruns in 16 games during the regular season.
I pitched half of a perfect game with Chuck Holt. And, I pitched
a 3-0 shutout when our team played the local all-star team where
I also hit the homerun that gave us our 3 runs. The all-star
season was disappointing because I wanted a chance to go back to
sub-state and further. We came in second place at districts. Our
biggest downfall that year was not having another pitcher to
complement me. Byron Schneringer and I lead the team to win @ age
9 and next year Billy Mortimore and I would do great things @ age
13. You have to have a good one, two pitching punch at a young
age or it will catch up to you.
My Junior year of baseball @ age 13 was the best because we won
the state championship. That year is described in greater detail
in the milestone section in
the #1 'Best of Times'.
My 14-year-old season was very disappointing because they combine
age 14 with age 15 and even though we had a state championship
team together, we were basically a year younger than the
competiton and we finished 4th at districts. On a positive note,
I hit the first two homeruns since little league this season.
My 15-year-old season was bittersweet because we got back to the
state tournament and came so close to winning it again. But in
the bottom of the last inning, Mount Juliet scored the winning
run with a runner who had been tagged out but the ball slipped
out of the shortstop's mitt.
Legion Summer League
We never really made any noise or advanced farther than
the local area district during Legion baseball. We had really
good teams, but the competition was very stiff. As you get older
in any sport the amount of participation lowers and the
competition increases. I hit two homeruns during the 2nd year of
three years of Legion baseball.
High School
High School had some memorable baseball times. My first
three years were tough because we weren't a very good team and
didn't receive good direction. However, I do have a few fond
memories from my Junior year. This was the year when I became a
full time starter @ 3rd base and I ended up being the #1 pitcher
in the rotation. I got a win against Dickson County whose only
other loss was to state ranked Henry County. My last at bat my
Junior year was a homerun. And, I have a wonderful memory when I
pitched a no-hitter against Russellville.
My Senior year was very special because we finally had a good
coaching staff and players. I was the third starting pitcher in
the rotation with professional bound Freddy Parker and Charlie
Mills ahead of me. I was nominated team captain and I was also
the only 4 year Senior. The parents and players all participated
in renovating the field and everyone was excited as the season
neared.
As a team, things went very well. We won the district regular
season title with a 8-2 record which guaranteed us a birth to the
regional tournament, but if we were able to win the district
tournament, we would host the 1st regional game. The district
tournament was tough. We won a close game against Northwest High
in the winners bracket. Then, Dickson County came out of the
losers bracket and beat us to force a final game which we won to
win and make us district tournament champions. At regionals, we
hosted Beech County who narrowly beat us to end our season. I
went 4 for 4 that game to finish my season.
As a player, I didn't have as great of a season as I wanted. I
had an average batting average and decent pitching record of 3-1.
Because there were two great pitchers ahead of me, I didn't end
up pitching as much as I wanted. But, it was still a great season
filled with great memories.
College
College baseball was a double-edged sword to say the least.
I had made up my mind a long time ago that playing college
baseball was my number 1 priority, so I felt very fortunate to
have the opportunity. I also felt lucky to find a college that
met my athletic and academic needs. But, college athletics turned
out to be a much different atmosphere than I anticipated.
I hate to say it, but college athletics is a business and playing
a college sport is work. I wanted to play college baseball for
fun, but it turned out to be a job. I'm not saying that I didn't
have fun playing baseball in college. I did have a lot of fun -
especially when we were playing games. But the preparation and
off the field commitments were very demanding and rarely fun.
Factor in that I had been playing baseball since I was 8 years
old and the stage is set for burnout. I think most people in my
position would have quit but I stayed with the team until I
graduated in the Spring of 1996.
I did learn more about baseball in college than the sum of all my
years before it. That was a very good thing. I developed 4 great
pitches - fastball, curveball, slider, and change-up. Before
college, I only had a fastball and curveball. I also learned many
in depth concepts about base running and fielding.
So, collegiate baseball had its fair share of good and bad points.
It's one of those things I'm very glad I did, but hesitant to say
if I would do again.