Oxford, AL – Oxford’s Game 1 victory over Spanish Fort included drama, crucial runs and an interference decision. The Seniors’ final game at home attracted a large crowd.
Title series Class 6A
GAME 1 At Choccolocco Park
Oxford 6 Spanish Fort 5
GAME 2.
at Rudy Abbott Field
Wednesday, 10 a.m.
GAME 3
To continue with Game 2, If needed.
Joe Medley
The rumbling of crowds that stuffed Choccolocco’s Signature Field bleachers and every gap that they could fill with brick mortar and steel for the first game of the Oxford Class 6A title game against Spanish Fort on Tuesday sent Wes Brooks down memory lane.
A long-time Oxford baseball coach surveyed the senior shortstop Sam Robertson, whose seventh-inning RBI single provided Oxford the win in a 6-5 victory and also recalled the Auburn-bound player’s first time playing on the field when he was an eighth-grader.
“January 27th of January, 2018, was his first time practicing as an eighth-grade student in this area,” Brooks said. “You know blood, sweat, and tears?
“They might be able to be victorious tomorrow -the the first game, the second game, or whatever it is -“ they’ll never again have the chance to play on the field again which is why it’s pretty awesome to be able to win the game in the manner we did, and they’ll keep that memory for all their lives.”
Wednesday, naturally will be game 2 or, should it be required Game 3 at the Jacksonville State University’s Rudy Abbott Field.
Naturally, the highest-ranked Yellow Jackets (38-6), who are currently 5-0 in the playoffs, would like to seal off their second state championship and the their first title since 2012. Of course, they’d like to set the record for school records with their 39th win.
Dissolve the controversies surrounding this 6A title series, however it was a game that on Tuesday 1 is also the last at home for the nine Oxford seniors. It was also adorned with the AHSAA emblem on the right-center field wall.
What happens If Oxford was actually the opponent on the scoreboard? What if Oxford was wearing its black uniforms sporting gold pinstripes, and goals-outlined numbers, and were able to stay at the dugout for third base rather than their normal first-base dugout.
What even if they did not have their usual “Boom Boom Room” celebration in the locker room which is adjacent to the dugout for first base. It could be done in the campus.
Choccolocco Park’s iconic field had to be neutral technically speaking it was a Tuesday game, but Oxford’s players are aware of every smell and sight. Recollections of Game 1 on Tuesday Game 1 now live there along with a myriad of other memories that Oxford’s seniors have created since the park was opened in the year 2016.
Since their city constructed an arena that was the site of players to the AHSAA state softball championship and the baseball championships, and since this Oxford team might just be the best team in the school’s history and most impressive player in the Alabama class this year They were also able to play their last home game on the 16th of May.
It was a month following the senior day. They needed be able to take four championship games for the right to make a game in the state final series as their official last home match, and they managed it.
For the memory of Oxford’s first inning of four runs, which ended with Hayes Harrison’s double. The answer was Spanish Fort’s with a three-run top of the first. There was a third score to tie the score during the 2nd.
Hudson Gilman’s RBI single to make the score 5-4 in the third and Robertson’s crucial single with a count of 0-2 to score the game-winning hit, after Harrison hit a double ahead of him.
There were defensive plays worthy of video such as second baseman senior Peyton Watts ranging into the gap to block Pierce Dutton a second-inning single before throwing a high-flying jump back towards Gilman in the first position to secure the putout.
Then those breakdowns. Those key, key rundowns.
Dutton struck an RBI single to make it 5-5 in the 3rd. Prior to that, Oxford executed a 6-2-5-1-4 rundown of Nehemiah Hixon’s fielder’s decision to end the game. Hayes Miller between third base and home.
Yes, Dutton’s single could have been a double-run single, but it was not.
With two runners on the board and having two strikeouts during the sixth inning, Harrison falsified a throw-in-the-air and Dutton moved off second base, and was stuck in a limbo. Harrison took off from the mound, and then tagged Dutton himself.
If you’re scoring in your home stadium, Oxford executed a 6-2-5-1-4 rundown, as well as an unassisted one during the same game, both of which were used to block Spanish Fort players in scoring positions.
For the duration of their lives, nine seniors will watch these plays, which one won’t see on a regular basis and will be able to remember in their minds. They’ll be able to see them on their home fields and in a state championship series, but that won’t make up for the conclusion.
Relief pitcher R.J. Brooks struck out Miller Miller, and Oxford catcher Forrest Heacock came up throwing as a pinch-runner Justin Fenderson tried to steal second. Fenderson was secure at second base, but he waited.
Heacock in a flurry of jumping across the field, redirected his attention to umpire for home plate Slade McElroy, who ruled that Miller had a problem with Heacock.
The interference rule meant that Fenderson was dismissed. Game was over.
Do you have any details in your memory.
“R.J. has thrown a cutter at the pitch earlier that I liked and thought was great and I decided to throw cutter once more,” Brooks said. “He is throwing the cutter and then then swings and fail.
“Forrest is an extremely excellent catcher. He’s likely to be an Division I catcher down the down the road, but because that they’re close to the plate and also because there was two strike technique and a cutter away from the plate, the catcher (Miller) may be leaning on. It’s probably an accident. Bravo and kudos to the umpires for allowing that at the conclusion of the game like this.”
Do you want to have more memorable memories of a moment in Signature Field?
Wes Brooks let the public in on two the nicknames of Robertson … “Playoff Sam,” for his impressive postseason performances as well as “Jeter,” the guy who plays games with runners who are in scoring positions.
The nine seniors that form the backbone of an exceptional Oxford team savored the award of playing in the finals at home and then filled it full of memories.
The Yellow Jackets must go finish the task on the exact stretch of turf in which Wes Brooks played his college ball. There’s a field of turf in which grass was once as well as seats where the metal bleachers were once and the field is named after his coach from college.
“A many fond memories,”” Brooks said. “Nothing as good as what they have today. We had to do heavy weights inside the bullpen, and dress in the parking lot for the coliseum.
“Now they’ve got like”the Taj Mahal.” [ find more stories on sports…]
