Hugs all around
- Updated: March 7, 2024
Syer delivers game-winning hit to power top seed Oxford past No. 2 Alexandria in 11 innings, becomes team favorite for hugs
Pairings, scores
CALHOUN COUNTY TOURNAMENT
(All games at Choccolocco Park)
Saturday, March 2
No. 11 Jacksonville Christian 3, No. 14 Anniston 0
No. 6 Donoho 8, JCA 0
No. 12 Weaver 7, No. 13 Saks 4
No. 5 Pleasant Valley 6 Weaver 4
No. 7 Ohatchee 14, No. 10 Faith Christian 2
No. 8 White Plains 11, No. 9 Wellborn 1
Monday, March 4
No. 2 Alexandria 8, Ohatchee 1
No. 3 Piedmont 10, Donoho 6
No. 1 Oxford 12, White Plains 2
No. 4 Jacksonville 5, Pleasant Valley 4
Semifinals
Alexandria 4, Piedmont 3
Oxford 5, Jacksonville 1
Thursday, March 7
Championship
No. 1 Oxford 3, No. 2 Alexandria 2, 11 innings
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — First-year Oxford coach Travis Janssen broke the Yellow Jackets’ postgame huddle Thursday with a command for each player to hug at least two people.
Judd Syer didn’t count all of the hugs he got but offered a solid estimate.
“Whole team,” he said.
Syer’s pinch-hit, two-out, two-strike double in the bottom of the 11th inning scored Canaan Whitman, and top-seeded Oxford beat No. 2 Alexandria 3-2 in a Calhoun County championship game for the ages.
The Yellow Jackets won their third consecutive county title and first under Janssen, hired after 19-year Oxford head coach Wes Brooks moved into administration.
“I’m just really happy and feel blessed to be here,” the former Austin Peay State University head coach and two-time Jacksonville State assistant said. “They’re a great group of kids, and they’ve welcomed me with open arms, and the people have treated us really good, and it feels great to win.”
Janssen’s first Oxford team prevailed in a game where everything mattered.
“It was great,” Syer said. “What was it, 11 innings? It’s insane. It was fun.”
Alexandria starter Tripp Patterson and Oxford counterpart R.J. Brooks pitched a classic.
Patterson, who battled a stomach virus all week, lasted into the bottom of the ninth, working 120 pitches and exiting with the game tied 1-1. He allowed two hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.
“Tripp is a dog, and their ain’t much else to say about it,” Alexandria coach Zac Welch said. “Offensively, we should’ve done a little more to get Tripp the win in regulation there. He threw seven great inning and kept going into extra innings.
“Pitch count just got him, but he couldn’t have done a better job for us. It’s a shame that he doesn’t take a ‘W’ home after tonight.”
Janssen called Patterson “the best pitcher we’ve seen this year, I think, and we’ve played some pretty good people.”
Oxford starter R.J. Brooks worked 90 pitches and six innings, allowing three hits with five strikeouts and two walks before giving away to Carter Johnson, who gave way to Nick Richardson to start the 10th inning, with the game still tied 1-1.
The two teams combined for 14 hits through 11 innings.
Alexandria saw two base runners thrown out at home, Evan Snow both times after a Zach Baskins singles in the seventh and ninth innings. Both times, Alexandria got players involved in rundowns between first and second bases, with Snow attempting to advance home from third base.
The seventh-inning relay involved Richardson (center field), shortstop Rocco Maniscalco, first baseman Hudson Gilman, second baseman Bryson Bradford and catcher Forrest Heacock. The ninth-inning play went from right fielder Tide Gann to Gilman, Maniscalco then Heacock.
“Offense was not the name of the game today, so we had to push the envelope,” Welch said. “Credit to Oxford for handling the situations that we put them in. They didn’t make a bad throw. They didn’t short hop a guy trying to catch it or anything. They did what they had to do to get us out. …
“We probably ran into some outs, but we’re an all-gas-no-brakes team. That’s how we play. Unfortunately tonight, it didn’t work out for us.”
Richardson issued four 10th-inning walks, one intentional to load the bases. Evan Snow drew the last walk with bases loaded to give Alexandria a 2-1 lead.
Tide Gann’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th tied it and set the stage for the dramatic 11th. Whitman held Alexandria to Eli Barnes’ one-out single to keep the game tied, and Whitman singled to get a runner on for Oxford in the bottom of the 11th.
Janssen reinserted Syer, who started the game and went 0-for-3 into the ninth inning, to pinch hit. This after Rocco Maniscalco nearly put a ball over Alexandria right fielder Ian Cartwright’s head against Alexandria reliever Samuel Henegar.
“Judd is a high-character guy,” Janssen said. “He’s been a football guy for the last couple of years, and he’s super athletic. We’ve been struggling to find a DH, and was in that nine hole.
“We put (Bryson) Bradford in there to bunt (in the 10th inning), and then we needed an extra-base hit. He gave us a chance to do it.”
Syer’s shot into left field carried just out of reach for Alexandria left fielder Zach Baskins, allowing Whitman to score from first base.
“I got to two strikes, and I was thinking, ‘Two strikes, go oppo (opposite field),’ but he left me one inside. I tried to get a good hit on it.”
Once Whitman crossed the plate, Oxford’s dugout emptied and ran into shallow right-center field to mob Syer.
Then came the team huddle, which Janssen broke by having every player hug at least two people. It seemed everyone saved a hug for No. 17.
Where did that moment rate in the career of a multisport athlete like Syer?
“This is up there, for sure,” Syer said. “It’s fine for number one.”
All-tournament team
MVP: Carter Johnson, Oxford.
Outstanding offensive player: Nick Richardson, Oxford.
Outstanding defensive player: Tripp Patterson, Alexandria.
White Plains: Aiden Kilgore.
Donoho: Blake Sewell.
Ohatchee: Jakson Smith.
Pleasant Valley: Holt Bentley.
Jacksonville: Zay Lemon, Gavin Peeler.
Piedmont: Brodie Homesley, McClane Mohon.
Alexandria: Brodie Slaton, Aiden Brunner, Ian Cartwright.
Oxford: Canaan Whitman, R.J. Brooks.
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