The 2024 regular season ended on a high note for the Russellville High School varsity baseball team on Monday night. The Golden Tigers, after falling behind early, came back and defeated Mars Hill 7-3 to improve their overall record to 23-9.
“Let's not even sugarcoat it: it’d suck to lose your last game of the year no matter how you put it, especially going into the playoffs,” Russellville head coach Jess Smith said. “It was not our best performance, but that’s what I told our team—when you get to postseason baseball it’s not a beauty contest. You find ways to win, and we did that tonight even when we didn’t play our best.”
After a scoreless first inning, the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Those two runs were surrendered by Neyland Baker, who came in to pitch after Cayden Johns started in the first inning. The Golden Tigers ended up using five pitchers in the game in order to keep individual pitch counts down. Eli Boutwell, Ty Engelthaler, and Gunner Sappington also made appearances on the bump.
“We had a lot of guys contribute on the mound which is an abnormal situation. You’re in a bullpen day and you’ve got guys who can’t go past a certain limit of pitches so they’re available for (the playoff games) Friday,” Smith explained.
Russellville struggled at the plate through the first three innings but started to come around in the fourth. The hosts scratched one across in the bottom half after a leadoff double by Devin Green put him in position for Cayden Johns to knock him in on a sacrifice fly later on in the inning. That run made it 2-1, but the Golden Tigers were not done yet—and neither was Green.
In the fifth, two dropped third strikes and a walk loaded the bases for Green, who smashed the ball into left field, scoring Daniel Askew and the go-ahead runner Brandt Cummings to make it 3-2.
It being Senior Night for the Golden Tigers, the two-run drive was an especially nice moment for Green, a player Smith praised after the game for his selflessness and leadership.
“It’s hard not to get emotional about someone like Devin Green, who has had really limited varsity appearances throughout his career and even this season. He started early for us and ran into some difficulties offensively and defensively, but I want to make sure people know who that guy is,” Smith said. “He’s the guy that if you came and watched us after a four-hour practice, he’s the last one in the dugout cleaning up, the last one in the facility. There’s been multiple times I’ve had to tell somebody like Devin Green, you know, to go home because he’s staying behind to vacuum or he’s grabbing the mop.”
“In my opinion, one of the top qualities of a leader is servanthood, and that’s who Devin Green is. Good things happen to good people, and I could not be happier for him and his performance tonight—and really his performances over the last three games,” Smith added. “It’s hard not to root for Devin Green.”
After Green’s go-ahead single, another senior, catcher Michael Scofield, knocked in two more runs with his RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2.
Russellville’s final two runs came in the sixth. A two-out triple by Brandt Cummings scored Elliott Green from first base, before Cummings himself came across on a wild pitch in the next at-bat. It truly was a night for the Russellville seniors: every RBI and all but one of the runs scored was credited to a senior Golden Tiger.
“I’m super proud of all of our seniors,” Smith said. “All of these guys are primarily returning starters for us. Last season we got beat in the quarterfinals, and I challenged these guys the day we started in the summer that nobody’s going to outwork us. Nobody’s going to want it more than us, and it starts with (the seniors), you know?”
“If we look at it in the sense of them writing a book, this chapter ends in the regular season and they did everything I’ve asked them to. We’ve had some bad moments, but we’ve never let them manifest and we’ve always responded in a positive way,” he added. “They probably don’t know how much I appreciate them, but that day’s coming. I don’t want to take it easy on them going into the most important part of the season, but, man, I’m super proud of this group. They’ve led the way for us and it shows.”
Russellville’s seven seniors—Daniel Askew, Brandt Cummings, Devin Green, Cayden Johns, KJ Murray, Michael Scofield, and Brodie Vandiver—were honored in a postgame ceremony alongside their families.
The win over Mars Hill and the moxie shown to win it, Smith said, was a great way for the Golden Tigers to wrap the regular season and a good way to jump into the postseason.
“We haven’t had a ton of opportunities over this last month where we’ve had to fight back in the middle innings. The last time we did have that opportunity against James Clemens and Haleyville, we never did it, so it’s awesome we were able to do that tonight,” Smith said. “I’m not going to act like I want our team to be down, ever, but if there’s a situation where you can be down and fight back and find a way to win in a gritty way, I think you want it to be on a night like tonight, launching you into the postseason.”
A 23-9 record, a top 10 ranking, and an area championship—all of these are commendable accomplishments the Golden Tigers achieved this regular season. But with the regular season now over, win-loss records are effectively 0-0, rankings aren’t so intimidating, and much of the opposition are area champs. In other words, the playoffs are a whole new ballgame.
All season Smith has talked about the challenges he’s levied at his team. Now his squad will face their most consequential challenges yet. The Russellville head coach said he hopes Golden Tiger fans will be behind them when they do.
“We hope everybody will show up and show out and give us that greatest home field advantage in the state of Alabama,” Smith said. “We’re asking everyone to show up and help us get to round two. We appreciate all the support.”
Russellville is scheduled to host Pleasant Grove in round one of the AHSAA playoffs on Thursday night. First pitch of game one of the series is scheduled for 5 P.M.
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