The term “trust the process” has been adopted by sports teams across the world in hopes of one day turning a team or franchise into a championship contender. And while that term might be reserved in most cases for teams at the highest level, the Russellville Golden Tigers baseball team has adopted a similar mantra which has led them to their successes over the years.
And as the Golden Tigers head into their 5A semifinal matchup with Madison Academy beginning on Wednesday, they’ll stick to that same saying in hopes of propelling them to a state title berth.
“We’re going to have two great days of process-oriented practice, where we focus not on the results we get, but by the process by which we go about our business with,” Heaps said. “That’s how we roll. We’re not worried about results, and we’re not a results-oriented team. We’re a process-oriented team. Our guys believe in the process that we have and we’ve had a great process the whole season and we’ll continue to do so.”
But before the Golden Tigers could turn their attention to the Mustangs and the semifinals, they had to weather the storm (literally) in their quarterfinal series against Alexandria.
Jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after an error by Alexandria, Russellville would extend their lead by three more runs in the second inning to make it 4-0 after RBIs from John David Bishop, Eli Gipson and Jackson Lindsey.
Alexandria would plate their only run in the top of the third before the Golden Tigers got the run back in the home half of the third. The last run of game one came across the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning on an RBI single from Reed Hill to give Russellville a 6-1 lead after four innings.
Then Mother Nature decided to make her presence known. After a rain delay of more than an hour and a half, play resumed with Emitt Green going back out on the mound. There might have been some room for concern after having his starter sit for more than an hour, especially once Green hit the first Alexandria batter after the delay. However, Heaps knew his senior ace would be up for the challenge.
And he was right.
Green continued to do what he had done over the course of this entire season: mow through lineups with relative ease.
“Emitt did a really good job and threw a lot of strikes. Coming back after the delay and hitting that first guy kinda worried me just a little bit. But he settled in and did what he does by pounding the zone and giving us a chance,” Heaps said.
After sealing the deal in game one, game two was pushed to Thursday due to the rain delay.
And if you’re a fan of a good old fashioned pitchers duel, game two was the game to be in attendance. As game two was scoreless after the seventh inning, the Golden Tigers and Alexandria were forced to go all the way down to nine innings. And Rowe Gallagher and Reed Hill combined for nine scoreless innings only scattering three hits the entire game.
Russellville, playing as the away team in game two, went into the top of the ninth inning still searching for their first run of the ballgame.
And they got one… and another… and another… well, you get the picture.
Canyon Pace got the ball rolling in the inning, scoring Gipson on a fielder's choice for the first run of the game for either squad. Hill then singled home a pair of runs to quickly put the Golden Tigers up 3-0. A trio of singles from Grayson Thorpe, Casen Heaps, and Banks Langston made it a 7-0 ballgame with each coming away with at least one RBI in the inning with Heaps knocking in two runs.
Nick Smith singled home another run after Lindsey popped out to center and Pace followed up the Smith single with one of his own to make it a 9-0 game.
After the inning came to a close, the Golden Tigers plated nine runs in the inning to take game two by a 9-0 final.
Seeing Hill and Gallagher bounce back after a rough outing in round two against Corner is an encouraging sign for the Golden Tigers.
And that’s something that Heaps and his staff hope can continue as the Golden Tigers continue to make a deeper push into the postseason.
“Rowe didn’t have his best performances here recently but his stuff is still good enough to put up zeroes on the board for us. And when he got behind 2-0 on one guy, we had already had a few walks and I just felt like we couldn’t afford another freebie right there,” Heaps said. “And we had Reed in the pen warming up for us that could handle that situation a little better and it was a good call because Reed came in and got the strikeout and that was huge for us.”
As the Golden Tigers turn their attention towards the Mustangs this week,
“It’s going to be fun. This is what you work for and everything that we’ve done up to this point with the weightlifting, the practicing, the mental training and everything that we’ve done has been for this moment,” Heaps said. “And we are highly prepared for a series like this. We just have to relax and do what we do. Madison Academy is a very experienced team but it’s going to be a great matchup. We’ve faced some really good pitching this season and I feel like we’re ready for whatever is thrown at us. It doesn’t matter to me who we play or where we play. All that matters is how we play.”
