GAINESVILLE — Gainesville baseball coach Jeremy Kemp says the first round of the state playoffs proved a perfect encapsulation of his team:
Resilient, tough, unflappable.
"We led for exactly three innings in three games, and yet we won the series," Kemp said after his team knocked off Cambridge 4-3, 5-7, 8-5 -- despite trailing 5-4 in the seventh inning of Game 3. "We've been up and down, but the bottom line is that we've found ways to win. And we never give up."
He also hopes the first round was a harbinger.
"I say this to people all the time: If you're going to make a run you have to survive a series where you don't play well," Kemp said. "I didn't think we played very well, but we found a way. That's the thing about this team -- I feel like in clutch situations someone steps up. There's a confidence with the game on the line. I haven't had that with a lot of teams."
The Red Elephants (22-9) are sure to need every ounce of that confidence in their second round series at No. 3-ranked Allatoona (27-5), which battered Creekside 16-2, 17-1 in the first round.
"We like being the underdog; everybody's been saying Gainesville hasn't been great these last couple of years, but we're focused on coming out and making a run," said senior shortstop Banks Griffith, whose older brothers Ryan (2009-2012) and Sims (2011-14) also starred for Gainesville. "We're focused on doing all the little things right; it's going to take timely hitting and our pitchers throwing strikes. If we do that it builds momentum for us, and that gets us going."
Forget that the Red Elephants have plenty of opportunity for theatrical speeches -- including a longtime and highly-successful coach set to leave the program after the season (Kemp is headed to Cherokee Bluff after 10 years as head coach), and a group of nine seniors ready to end their varsity careers on a high note.
It's simply not their style.
"It's certainly not about me; we don't talk about it. We're focused on us," said Kemp, who has 255 wins so far and four state semifinal appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2015. "The M.O. of this program since I've been here is that everybody's replaceable, including me. It's all about the next guy up."
Instead the entire program -- from coach to players -- is focused solely on those "little things," rather than a more dramatic overview.
"To do it for our seniors and coach Kemp is a bonus," Griffith said. "We're all doing it for each other. And our players know that they have to give it their all."
"I told all the guys during the first round that this could be your last time, and you control how hard you play. And as long as we give everything we've got the breaks will go our way," senior catcher Jared Smith said. "We're not tryng to be perfect, but everything you can do to help the team win is important -- and if you mess up just know that your teammates have your back."
That focus also extends to individuals, including senior Collier Scott, who won his 20th career game last week to move into 10th place in the Red Elephants career pitching wins list -- a group that includes MLB players Cris Carpenter and Micah Owings.
"I didn't even know that was a thing until someone told me after the game," Scott chuckled. "It's very exciting, but I have to give credit to my team for always scoring runs and supporting me in the field."
Part of Gainesville's determination also stems from knowing disappointment.
After falling in the first round of last year's Class 6A bracket and then missing out on an opportunity to claim the Region 8-6A title this season, the Red Elephants seniors vowed never to let opportunity slip again.
"Everybody was devastated last year," Scott said of a three-game loss to eventual quarterfinalist Dalton -- which was itself defeated in three games by eventual state champ Pope. "None of the seniors wanted to let that happen again; it really started a fire for us."
"We also slipped up versus Lanier and Apalachee earlier this year (losing one game in each series as GHS finished tied with Winder-Barrow in the 8-6A race only to finish second due to head-to-head results)," Griffith said. "We kind of got a big head and that hurt us. So we know what it's like to be the big dog and the underdog."
So there are no discussions of grandeur, rather the maintainance of what pushed Gainesville to this point.
"We try not to be uptight, just be loose and play our game, score runs and build momentum," Scott said. "In recent years we've had a dominant hitter or pitcher. We don't really have that, but this team wins consistently with numbers. We do the little things that win games."
Wins will not come cheaply against an Allatoona squad that features depth in pitching and perhaps the best hitter the Red Elephants have faced all season in lead-off man Blake Evans, a Georgia Southern signee currently hitting .531.
It's a situation Gainesville is taking in stride, however.
"These guys don't panic; they've taken over our coaches' mentality of don't panic, never stop," Kemp said. "We're all on the same page, and in their minds they're never out of the game. When they get on the field they expect to win. There's a great culture here, and they're proud to be part of that. I'm proud of the way these guys have fought and carried themselves."
"We thrive on being in this situation," Smith added. "It's an amazing feeling to be in the playoffs, and we're just taking it pitch-by-pitch."
NOTES: Gainesville will travel to face Allatoona beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday in a doubleheader of their best-of-three series. Game 3, if, necessary will follow on Friday. ... For a look at all of the second round series involving northeast Georgia programs, click here.
