June 13, 2018 at 4:23 p.m.
Selvey got his team of heroes, not farm animals
Line Drives
Lea Selvey said it last week.
No farm animals.
Whether win or lose, he hoped to see a hero or two.
No goat, though. And sure as heck not a herd of them.
As the Jay County High School baseball team walked off the field Saturday at Municipal Stadium in Kokomo following its 13-2, five-inning loss to top-ranked Andrean in the Class 3A semi-state championship, any number of the Patriots could have felt like the four-legged mammal.
The scapegoat could have been anyone responsible for one of the four errors. Or it could have been each of four pitchers who combined to walk eight batters. Perhaps the five who didn’t manage a hit or any of Andrean pitcher Mike Doolin’s nine strikeout victims could be looked at as the goat.
Plain and simple, on the heels of the program’s third regional championship — and 14th across all sports at the school — the Patriots needed to be at the top of their game against the Fighting ’59ers.
But things unraveled in the top of the first inning, and continued to get worse.
When it wasn’t working counts to draw free bases, Andrean put bat to the ball for a dozen singles. None were exceptionally hard hits. They just found open real estate.
Three times Andrean, which meets third-ranked Silver Creek on Saturday for the state title, put down perfectly placed bunts.
Just once — the second batter of the game — the ’59ers found a gap in the outfield when a Tyler Nelson fly ball almost reached the warning track.
But it resulted in the first of four Jay County errors.
As the ol’ Willie Keeler motto suggests, Andrean “hit ’em where they ain’t.”
Rather than dwell on what went wrong for the Patriots on Saturday, Selvey said to the media postgame precisely what a guy who’s been coaching baseball for more than three decades should say.
“They can look back at this at some point and realize what an accomplishment it is to get this far,” said Selvey, who on Tuesday was named District F coach of the year by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.
And quite the achievement it is.
In the past, seven Jay County baseball teams claimed sectional titles.
Only two of them won regional.
Not one had ever been among the four final teams in the state.
Until this year.
“Proud of our guys, and we’ll just celebrate what we ended up doing,” Selvey added. “We had a good year.”
It’s been more than just a good year for the nine Jay County seniors. They had a heck of a career on the diamond.
During their freshman season, the Patriots were 11-14, and have only improved since then. Jay County was 14-13 in 2016 and 15-6 last season before reaching 20 wins this year for the first time since 2008.
While they won’t go down as the winningest, or most successful, class of Jay County baseball players, they are indeed on the short list for a number of other achievements.
And the closeness of the group has been a main reason the Patriots won the Allen County Athletic Conference in 2017, was second only to South Adams this year and was able to get one step from the state final.
“I think this team just has a good atmosphere, a good chemistry,” senior Payton Heniser said ahead of the semi-state game. “We pretty much just try to make everyone else laugh and keep everything light-hearted.
“I think that’s the best part about it. We don’t really take anything too seriously. That’s probably one of our biggest weapons in a way.”
Saturday, Andrean’s weapons were near perfection. They put down bunts, hit and pitched well.
Looking at the result of the semi-state game, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion and say Jay County did not belong on the same field as Andrean.
To think that way, however, is not giving the team that managed just two runs the credit they deserve.
Believe me, the Patriots did.
It just so happened Jay County played far from flawless baseball, which is what it would have taken to beat the ’59ers that day.
So any one of the 17 players on the Patriots’ roster has the right to feel like a scapegoat.
But as coach said, no farm animals.
Instead, each Patriot should feel like a hero, because that’s exactly how they’re seen in the eyes of the two dozen kids donning Redkey jerseys who were sitting in the seats behind their dugout, and also by the many others who supported them through the deepest tournament run in program history.
Not as goats. As heroes.
No farm animals.
Whether win or lose, he hoped to see a hero or two.
No goat, though. And sure as heck not a herd of them.
As the Jay County High School baseball team walked off the field Saturday at Municipal Stadium in Kokomo following its 13-2, five-inning loss to top-ranked Andrean in the Class 3A semi-state championship, any number of the Patriots could have felt like the four-legged mammal.
The scapegoat could have been anyone responsible for one of the four errors. Or it could have been each of four pitchers who combined to walk eight batters. Perhaps the five who didn’t manage a hit or any of Andrean pitcher Mike Doolin’s nine strikeout victims could be looked at as the goat.
Plain and simple, on the heels of the program’s third regional championship — and 14th across all sports at the school — the Patriots needed to be at the top of their game against the Fighting ’59ers.
But things unraveled in the top of the first inning, and continued to get worse.
When it wasn’t working counts to draw free bases, Andrean put bat to the ball for a dozen singles. None were exceptionally hard hits. They just found open real estate.
Three times Andrean, which meets third-ranked Silver Creek on Saturday for the state title, put down perfectly placed bunts.
Just once — the second batter of the game — the ’59ers found a gap in the outfield when a Tyler Nelson fly ball almost reached the warning track.
But it resulted in the first of four Jay County errors.
As the ol’ Willie Keeler motto suggests, Andrean “hit ’em where they ain’t.”
Rather than dwell on what went wrong for the Patriots on Saturday, Selvey said to the media postgame precisely what a guy who’s been coaching baseball for more than three decades should say.
“They can look back at this at some point and realize what an accomplishment it is to get this far,” said Selvey, who on Tuesday was named District F coach of the year by the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association.
And quite the achievement it is.
In the past, seven Jay County baseball teams claimed sectional titles.
Only two of them won regional.
Not one had ever been among the four final teams in the state.
Until this year.
“Proud of our guys, and we’ll just celebrate what we ended up doing,” Selvey added. “We had a good year.”
It’s been more than just a good year for the nine Jay County seniors. They had a heck of a career on the diamond.
During their freshman season, the Patriots were 11-14, and have only improved since then. Jay County was 14-13 in 2016 and 15-6 last season before reaching 20 wins this year for the first time since 2008.
While they won’t go down as the winningest, or most successful, class of Jay County baseball players, they are indeed on the short list for a number of other achievements.
And the closeness of the group has been a main reason the Patriots won the Allen County Athletic Conference in 2017, was second only to South Adams this year and was able to get one step from the state final.
“I think this team just has a good atmosphere, a good chemistry,” senior Payton Heniser said ahead of the semi-state game. “We pretty much just try to make everyone else laugh and keep everything light-hearted.
“I think that’s the best part about it. We don’t really take anything too seriously. That’s probably one of our biggest weapons in a way.”
Saturday, Andrean’s weapons were near perfection. They put down bunts, hit and pitched well.
Looking at the result of the semi-state game, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion and say Jay County did not belong on the same field as Andrean.
To think that way, however, is not giving the team that managed just two runs the credit they deserve.
Believe me, the Patriots did.
It just so happened Jay County played far from flawless baseball, which is what it would have taken to beat the ’59ers that day.
So any one of the 17 players on the Patriots’ roster has the right to feel like a scapegoat.
But as coach said, no farm animals.
Instead, each Patriot should feel like a hero, because that’s exactly how they’re seen in the eyes of the two dozen kids donning Redkey jerseys who were sitting in the seats behind their dugout, and also by the many others who supported them through the deepest tournament run in program history.
Not as goats. As heroes.
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