Their motto was “47 Miles To Your Dream,” meaning the prize lied at Round Rock’s Dell Diamond in the form of the Class 5A state championship. Their physical talent produced 23 wins, but mentally they just weren’t ready to be champions.
And in the season finale it was only fitting that their lack of a killer instinct and inability to produce a defining comeback victory sealed their fate.
Belton’s play reminded me of the undersized, finesse fighter in a heavyweight bout. With precise right and left jabs to the body in the form of one- or two-run innings, the Tigers kept chipping away at their opponent. Too many times they missed opportunities to impose their will and deliver the knockout punch.
For example, Belton held a 5-0 lead after three innings in its first game against Bryan and could have made a statement by routing the two-time defending district champion. Instead, the Tigers took their foot off the accelerator and had to fend off the Vikings’ rally for a 5-3 win.
The situation was eerily similar on Saturday when the Tigers couldn’t expand a 4-0 lead in the Region II quarterfinals against Lee.
I asked Belton first-year coach Eddie Cornblum after the loss if it was fair to say that when his team smelled blood this season, the Tigers struggled to put their foot on the opponents’ throat.
“I agree sometimes with that and other times I think we’ve been able to handle it,” he said. “At the beginning of the year I’d say we couldn’t shut people down. We had a hard time closing games but then as we went on we were able to do that. We were shutting teams down, but obviously we couldn’t do that today.”
On other occasions against far lesser teams, they’d jump out to a comfortable lead early but ended up playing the full seven innings because they couldn’t drop the hammer.
“Sometimes kids take for granted that you have a lead,” Cornblum said. “The mentality and the rowdiness and the awareness in the dugout and that every pitch is crucial tapers down a little bit when you got a big lead. That’s something that we just have to keep pressing and working on. That’s something we’re going to work on all next year.”
What the Tigers also need to find is a capability to get up off the canvas late in games and show their resiliency to win.
Belton won one game (beating Grapevine 9-3, scoring every run in the fourth and fifth innings) all year when it trailed at any point after the third.
Granted, the Tigers usually were ahead. From the 12-5A opener through its playoff win against Dallas White, Belton trailed in just 12 of 105 innings. But when the situation arose against Bryan and College Station A&M Consolidated twice, it never mounted that character-building come-from-behind victory.
In the second game against Consol, it looked as though Belton had rid itself of this funk when Jarrett Crowell smacked a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim a 5-4 lead. But the Tigers allowed six runs in the top of the seventh in a 10-6 loss that would have all but sealed the outright league crown.
How Lee picked itself off the mat Saturday is exactly the lesson Belton needed heading into next year. Coach Mike Pirtle said his Red Raiders were a .500 ballclub on paper going into the season. They’re now 25-2-2, strictly due to an inner belief that no matter the adversity, they will never lose.
My intention is not to be critical, because, after all, these are 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids. It’s to point out how close these Tigers are to getting to the state tournament and bringing home a title.
From top to bottom, they were superior in terms of talent every time they stepped foot on the diamond and likely will be again next year.
Back is Shane Hoelscher, one of the state’s best shortstops, who had a ridiculous 22 hits in his final 37 at-bats.
Dillon Newman, John Beck, Justin Rhea and Tyler Vail form a top pitching rotation that finished with a 1.98 earned-run average.
John Nieberding found his role as a solid No. 2 hitter, playing the corner infield positions. Kevin Thornton is a steady bat and has a knack for getting to every fly ball in center field. Power bat Seth Alcozer will return to smacking pitches all over the ballpark.
The pieces are in place and Saturday’s painful exit should only intensify Belton’s hunger until it starts again in February 2010. Because the only thing keeping these Tigers from wrapping their arms around a championship trophy is themselves.
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
