By Wes Talley,
Just like the culmination of every Spring Fling, the week of competition ends with two teams vying for a title. In regards to baseball for the 2017 edition those two teams were the Bruins from Brentwood (28-10) pitted against the Stewarts Creek Red Hawks(34-9).Each team came into the week as favorites to get to this point, but the destination to get here would be a lot easier said than done.
The Red Hawks started off the week with a loss, putting them in the predicament of having to win two games in one day. As for Brentwood’s week, the team breezed past the competition until dropping a game, only to beat the same team in an hour later in a winner take all match.
By the time the two met at MTSU’s Reese Smith Field they were both battle tested and looking to cap off their season with the goal they’d chased all year.
The Bruins would strike first, like in most of their games in the tournament, taking the early one, nothing lead. But coach Bill Moore knew one run would not be enough versus a team the caliber of Stewarts Creek.
Head Coach Bill Moore
“It doesn’t matter if we’re down one, up two, we stay the same. We ask them to say the same, go about it playing our game.”
The Red Hawks would finally find their bats in the third, bringing two runners home and placing the pressure back on Brentwood. At the top of the very next inning, Brentwood would respond, tying the game at two a piece in the top of the fourth. After the the third inning lapse, the Bruins stoup pitching would reemerge, going three Hawks up, three Hawks down to close the fourth.
One team had to eventually pull away, and that team was the one from Williamson County. In the top of the sixth, Brentwood would drive in two runs, going up 5-3. Then in an attempt to secure victory, coach Moore called on his bullpen to take his team to the promise land.
The final inning would have all the drama any baseball fan would want. As the Red Hawks inched closer, coming to within two of the tie. The bases were loaded in the bottom of the seventh, the pitch count reading two strikes and two outs. The Bruin pitcher delivers the ball over home plate. It’s swung on, shot out to shallow left field. Waiting underneath, the glove of a Bruin and the taste of a state championship. The first in Brentwood Bruin baseball program history.
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