By Thomas Sellers Jr.
May 2017 the Munford Cougar Baseball program was riding an all-time high.
Scotty Yount’s ball club put together a run for the ages to reach the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament that season. Two huge pieces of that historic run were Cougars Steven “Steve-O” Kendrick and Chase Suggs.
The Cougar Baseball family had to bury their two brothers after two tragic separate accidents over a two-month span. Yount and his coaching staff were forced to teach their players about real life while mixing in game plans for some of the best teams in West Tennessee.
The past two seasons have been a test of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual endurance for the Cougars. Recently Yount gathered his players and coaches for a much-needed team meeting.
“We’re looking forward to a good year,” Yount said. “Last year was a lot of things happenings you couldn’t explain. We prepared well and played well. But just couldn’t finish. We played a lot of young players. I committed to playing a lot of young players for a couple of years. We tried to fill in gaps. Really we were better than I thought we could be.
“We’re moving forward from the past,” he continued. “We’re looking forward to this year. We’re older, more experienced and have played two years of a gauntlet schedule. So we have to be well prepared. You can’t control everything that happens out there. They have to go out there and do it.”
Once the players expressed their feelings and emotions, Yount was able to return the favor to created a stronger bond with his kids.
“This is team is a lot closer than we have been in the past couple of years,” he said. “We have the same goals and they have taken ownership. It’s their team.”
The 2020 motto of the Cougars will be ‘It’s Your Team.’
Yount said on the field it will start with pitching. CJ Bishop had a good summer on the mound. He expects big things from the senior hurler.
Dustin Morris will return to the rotation after having Tommy John Surgery. Another senior Munford expects quality innings this season is Carson Newman. Other pitchers to look out for are Blake Reed, Balfour Roe and Dalton Reed.
“We’ve got plenty of arms,” Yount said. “We don’t have a No. 1 or No. 2 right now. We have 18 on our varsity roster and 16 of them pitch. If I had to tell you, there’s not much separation between one and 16.”
Munford’s offensive production will come from players like University of Memphis commitment Shane Cox.
“One thing that we have this year that we haven’t had in years past is depth,” Yount said. “All over the field, I have four infielders, depth in the outfieild.”
Other key Cougars in the everyday lineup will be Tristan Gourley, Trent Suggs and Owen Geiger.
Sophomore Garrett McKinney has some tools to be good on the mound, field and plate as he gains experience.
“We need to get off to a good start,” Yount said. “It’s not going to be easy. We open up with Houston. They’re supposed to be loaded this year. They’ve got the Grayson Hicks kid who has signed to Alabama. Our guys are really looking forward to it. We’re ready, prepared.
“We have some goals,” he added. “All the pieces are in place to accomplish those goals. They just have to go out there and do it. They have to take ownership.”
Yount said his guys are prepared because they have the toughness inside and outside to make a deep run in 2020.
“It’s not always easy,” Yount said. “Nobody is going to lay down for you. Everybody is going to come at you with their best. That’s what has happened the past couple of years. We’ve seen everybody’s best because they know to beat us they’ve got to bring their best.
“You learn how to deal with the disappointment and the hurdles,” he concluded. “Thing are not always fair. We dealt with a lot of that into the fall. We had a meeting one day and just shared a lot things with each other. We got a lot of stuff off our chest. That might have been one thing holding us back, we just needed to talk.”
