‘They just want to play’

By Cody Stark
Assistant Sports Editor

May 14, 2008 11:49 pm

— Rain or shine, here or there, on a boat or with a goat. It doesn’t matter, all the Hornets want to do is play baseball.
Recent thunderstorms in the area forced Huntsville to move the opening game of a best-of-three regional quarterfinal series against Austin McCallum today from A&M Consolidated to Weimar High School at 7 p.m. It’s now a longer bus trip, but judging from the Hornets’ fun and carefree demeanor before Wednesday afternoon’s practice, it’s all good.
“The worst thing would have been if I would have came in and told the guys, ‘Hey, we aren’t playing tomorrow,’” Huntsville head coach Shelby Shaw said Wednesday at Kate Barr Ross Park. “They would have been upset about that. They just want to play, and so do I. I told them we would drive to Alaska and play if we had to.
“Once you get something stuck in their heads, that’s all they want to do. Even though it is a little longer trip, it’s still baseball and that’s all that matters to them.”
Who could blame the Hornets (21-11) for wanting to get back on the field as quickly as possible? So far, Huntsville hasn’t had much trouble disposing of its first two playoff opponents.
The Hornets have taken a one-game-at-a-time approach, and it has been working. Huntsville swept a pair of best-of-three series against Austin Travis and Houston Scarborough to open the playoffs.
A group that only a couple of weeks ago was making its first-ever postseason appearance, is now riding a four-game playoff winning streak heading into the matchup with the Knights, winners of District 17-4A at 16-0 and 22-7-2 overall.
“So far, we haven’t been playing the teams, we have been playing the ball,” Hornets senior Justin Davis said. “That’s how it works. We only worry about what we do. The main thing is just staying focused during the week while we are waiting around to play.”
The Hornets have done a good job of keeping their minds set on what needs to been done up to this point. In all four playoff wins, Huntsville has been the team that struck first and have not trailed a single inning.
That mainly has to do with Davis and sophomore Caleb Smith, who have been lights out on the mound and are both 2-0.
This past weekend against Scarborough, Smith (nine strikeouts) combined with junior Cole Sullivan (one inning) for a no-hitter in a 17-0 victory over the Spartans in five innings.
In the series clincher Saturday, Davis was perfect through six before turning the ball over to senior Cody Gougler, who pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to seal a 7-0 win.
Huntsville’s pitching and defense has been superb, and the offense has done its part, with Shaquille Ross, Adam Ayala and Ethan Smith all connecting for home runs in the series against Scarborough.
That makes for a deadly combination and will be the key if the Hornets want to keep playing into late May.
“It’s been great and the way we are hitting has really helped out,” Smith said. “I’m a whole lot more relaxed out there now. It’s gotten easier with each win.”
The series will shift back to A&M Consolidated, weather permitting, for the final two games Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.