By Thomas Sellers Jr.
MURFREESBORO – With a few sprinkles dropping from the sky onto the Siegel Baseball Field, the weather backdrop might have been ideal illustration of the feelings inside the Brighton Cardinals.
With the Siegel Stars staying alive in the Class 3A State Baseball Tournament with an 11-3 win over the Cardinals, Brighton Head Coach summoned his boys for more team huddle in left field. Going 1-2 in the tournament, Wood wanted to remind his team and seven seniors of the sunshine they created for a small town in Tipton County.
Before taking on Siegel, Brighton started the State Tournament on the wrong end of a 9-3 decision to Science Hill May 25. The Cardinals bounced back the following day with a 6-3 win over Beech. That set up a 5 p.m. showdown later in the day against Siegel.
“We made some early mistakes and got some nerves out in the first game,” Wood recalled. “I knew that was going to happen. And you understand because you’ve got 18 to 14-year-old boys experiencing this for the first time. They never been in that situation and it’s all new to them.
“But let me tell you how hard they turned it around this morning and got after a good Beech team,” he continued. “A team that has great arms. I am so proud of them grinding out that win. It’s so easy to lose that first game and come back early in the morning let it be down. ‘Great job, at least we made it to State.’ But they didn’t do that and fought their tails off giving themselves a chance to get into the pool championship. We ran into a good Siegel team. They hit the ball well.”
Brighton had a piece of good hitting against the Stars when senior Logan Rushing crushed a double. That was part of loading the bases and a Siegel walk brought the first run of the game home.
Siegel tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning. The Stars shined in the second inning with six runs taking a 7-1 lead.
The Cardinals displayed some fight with two runs in the third inning to make the tally 7-3. But the final RBIs of the game were produced by Siegel leading to the 11-3 win.
Disappointed in the season ending a few games too short, Wood spoke to his players reminding them how well they represented their family, friends, school and community.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of my 20-plus guys other there,” he said. “Those seniors all set the tone for Brighton Baseball going into the future. They were the first to make it to State. They defended a district championship twice. I can’t tell you how proud I am of them. The 2021 seniors and the team of 2021 will be a team I will always remember.”
The seniors of the Brighton Cardinals were Logan Rushing, Kaleb Baskin, Nathan McFarland, Luke Olivette, Jacob Buchanan, Ethan Pfeiffer and Grady Higgins. The rest of the 2021 Cardinals were Conner Hudson, Eli Bishop, Ben Lavelle, Lucas Perkins, Colton Bryant, William Comer, Cade Crowson, Tristan Deering, Sean Brubaker, Peyton Miller, Payton Owen, Carson Funk, Garrett Craig, Keagon Jarmon, Kase Washam, Kade Dunlapl, Brodie Billings, Ethan Cranford, Noah Maxwell, Bennett Stutts, Andrew Davis, Mitchell Pairmore, Christian Cousar, Seth Allen, Jake Hawkins, Zach Graham, Garrett Embry, Case Maxwell, John Richardson and Tanner Reed.
“It was extremely special season,” Wood concluded. “It is the most special season I’ve been a part of. I’ve been a part of one other State birth when I was in high school. I told them straight up, ‘How special it was as a player, coaching it from that standpoint has been more special than anything I did.’ We were blessed with a lot of good things and a lot of special celebrations. This was a season to be thankful for.”
