Falcons find foe
- Updated: May 15, 2021
Donoho will face Bayshore Christian in its first-ever trip to the Class 1A baseball championship series
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
In the three days since the Donoho baseball team punched its ticket to the Class 1A state championship series, Falcons coach Steve Gendron has been anxiously waiting to learn who they’d be playing.
He finally got the answer Saturday afternoon.
The Falcons (23-10) will play Bayshore Christian (26-8), another first-time finalist, when their series opens Tuesday, 7 p.m. at Paterson Field in Montgomery.
Bayshore defeated Brantley 10-4 in their Game 3 Saturday.
“I spent the last couple nights, to my wife’s demise, getting scouting reports on all these teams; she does not like me right now,” Gendron said. “I’ve called all the schools they’ve played, made contacts with everyone. It’s good to know who we’re playing.”
Interestingly, Bayshore’s pitching staff will go into the championship series on only three-days rest, while the Falcons’ arms will not have played since Wednesday when they swept Sumiton Christian.
“At the end of the day players are going to play in these prime-time moments,” Gendron said. “If you’re on three-day’s rest, seven-day’s rest it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to win on the field. It’s an advantage to us that they played Friday-Saturday and we played Wednesday, but at the end of the day you’ve got to take care of business on the field.
“We’ve got to win two games. The traditional doubleheader on one day and one the next, that’s out the window. I think a lot of people overthink it. I’m not an overthinker. We’ve got guys who can win and can compete. We’re going to throw out our best and if they can match it, we’ll go from there.”
A lot of neat things have happened to the Falcons since they clinched their spot. Among the most unique to Gendron is all the former players, college teammates and college coaches you’ve reached out to offer congratulations. One of the calls came from Gendron’s legendary Mississippi State coach Ron Polk.
“A high school championship is a big deal,” Gendron said. “I told these kids on Wednesday you won’t understand it now, but 20 years from now when you’re telling you kid I played in this game. It’s a big deal.”
AHSAA BASEBALL FINALS
Class 1A: Donoho (23-10) vs. Bayshore Christian (26-8)
Class 2A: G.W. Long (22-12) vs. Westbrook Christian (27-6)
Class 3A: Bayside Academy (27-7) vs. Phil Campbell (38-5)
Class 4A: Mobile Christian (34-4) vs. Oneonta (25-6)
Class 5A: Pike Road (29-9) vs. Russellville (40-7)
Class 6A: Faith Academy (32-5) vs. Hartselle (42-18)
Class 7A: Auburn (34-6) vs. Hoover (26-20)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login