JEFFERSON — If the Jackson County baseball team can continue its roller coaster ride toward a Class AAA state title, it may well be remembered as the year of the bean.
Not magic beans like the ones Jack got -- just your plain old kidney, pinto, and even black-eyed peas kind of beans.
“We were in a pretty bad rut offensively,” Jackson County coach Tommy Fountain said. “We were swinging at anything; we couldn’t score runs; we weren’t doing any of the little things you need to do to be successful. It was a frustrating time.”
The worst part was the slump hit its peak smack-dab in the middle of the Panthers’ Region 8-AAA schedule with a pair of losses to rival Jefferson where they went 13 straight scoreless frames before scoring their only run in the seventh inning of a 6-1 loss.
After the first loss to Jefferson, 5-0, Fountain admitted he needed to find out who was still committed to a playoff run.
“It wasn’t exactly a come-to-Jesus type of thing but we challenged the whole group that if they still wanted to to reach their goals some changes had to happen,” Fountain said.
But it took a quiet conversion with Hart County coach Josh Osborne during a middle school game to find the magic ingredient.
“We were talking about our offensive troubles and Josh suggested using beans during batting practice,” Fountain said. “At first I thought it he was kidding with me but he said try it and explained how it could help.”
They had scored just 64 runs in their first 20 games (3.2 average) with 16 of those coming in one game for just a 2.5 runs per game average over the other 19. Fountain said a quick run to Kroger couldn’t hurt.
“Once he explained how using the beans could help I thought we would give it try,” he said. “When you throw beans you can put all kinds of spin and stuff on them and if you’re trying to hit one you have to be patient and wait on it and it forces you to use your hands late. It looked kind of silly at first but then we started to see some things.
“The guys started waiting on them more and doing exactly what coach Osborne said would happen by using them. They started to make contact. And if you can hit a bean, you should be able to hit a baseball.”
Decide what you will, but since the bean experiment began, the Panthers have scored 77 runs in their last 12 games (6.4 rpg) including a most recent 14-1 drubbing of Appling County in Game 3 of their Class AAA second round series.
It begged the question even to Fountain.
“Is it the beans or did we just come out of our slump finally? I don’t know for sure but I do see us doing the little things better and definitely being more patient and using our hands to fight off pitches,” he said. “We’re going to keep the beans as part of our routine for now. But you also don’t mess with what’s working.”
The turnaround came at just the right time as the roller coaster ride that the Panthers had been on would have made even the most stout astronaut dizzy.
The Panthers opened the season 7-2-1, including a 4-0 start in Region 8-AAA play after beating Hart County in the first of three games. With the majority of their team back from a trip to the Class AAA quarterfinals in 2015, they seemed to be right on track with early-season predictions as the possible team to beat for the region title.
Then the wheels came off. The Panthers lost seven of eight, including the pair of lackluster efforts against arch-rival Jefferson late in the season, to fall into fifth place in the standings with just six games left.
They swept East Jackson, and though they lost two of three to Morgan County, they recovered just enough to finish third in Region 8-AAA.
Now, they are the only 8-AAA team left standing and have a chance to make program history with a first-ever trip the semifinals if they can get past Ringgold in the quarterfinals. The two teams’ will open their best-of-three series on Tuesday in Ringgold with a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Game 3, if necessary, would be at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The Panthers came into the season with pitching depth aplenty with seven guys that saw playoff action in 2015. Coleman Barbee, Zane Corley (who tossed a one-hitter in the series clincher against Appling County), Chris Griggs (one playoff win), Jase Latty, Tyler Sartain, Jeremy Cook (who has two of their four playoff wins), and Tyler Barber all have thrown well and offer Fountain plenty of options.
They’ve advanced without their No. 1 starter, Barbee, posting a playoff win to this point.
“Pitching was never the issue for us,” Fountain said. “We have 11 seniors and a lot of arms and we’ve been healthy for the most part. They key in our wins have been getting ahead of the batters and playing good defense. In our losses we pitched behind and made mistakes. But it’s like that for every high school team.”
The Panthers were fortunate to have a favorable draw in the early rounds not having to face the likes of top three teams in defending champion Blessed Trinity, Franklin County, or Westminster. First-round opponent Rockmart was ranked 10th while Appling County was ranked fourth. But neither had the pitching depth of the Panthers, who started three different pitchers and threw eight different guys to Rockmart and Appling's combined six.
Fountain is hoping their depth will play a factor again against Ringgold, which features Tennessee Tech-signee Devin Lancaster, who is 11-0 on the season.
“The Lancaster kid is excellent and can be a difference-maker,” he said. “Depending on which game he starts hopefully we can get him to throw a lot of pitches so it would make them think about not having him available for Game 3 if it goes that far. That’s why it’s important that our offense continue to do what they’ve been doing the last three weeks
“We feel very confident that if we go to a Game 3 we have quality arms to have an advantage. It’s not a one-game series and that’s where we feel we have an advantage.”
It won’t get any easier the rest of the way if they can find a way past the Tigers. Defending champion and No. 1 Blessed Trinity is taking on No. 2 Franklin County in Roswell. The Jackson County-Ringgold winner will get the winner of that series in the semifinals.
But, a series win and a trip to the semifinals would put them in unchartered waters.
“Rankings don’t mean anything now. There are eight good teams left and we feel we have as good a chance as anyone to win it all,” Fountain said. “But our goal has been to build this program and get better every year. Last year [Elite 8] was the farthest we had gotten and I think the kids may have relaxed a little knowing they had accomplished something no (Jackson County) team had done before.
“This year, it was very business-like after we got the win over Appling. No big celebrations or anything. I think they sense that they have a chance to do something even more special this year. We’re just trying to enjoy the ride now.”
And you can bet there will be a big bag of beans right next to the rest of the essential equipment when they make the trek to Ringgold on Tuesday.
