By Gary Lloyd
The Hewitt-Trussville baseball team was honored for its 2013 season by the Trussville City Board of Education on Monday night.
Hewitt-Trussville finished the season with a 34-13 record, its best in school history, and reached the Class 6A state championship series in Montgomery for the first time in school history.
Board President Bill Roberts said he saw more baseball this spring than he ever has, and that Hewitt-Trussville brought “a lot of joy” to the community. Trussville City Councilman Alan Taylor said the team “created a buzz” throughout the community.
First-year head coach Jeff Mauldin, who now has 428 career wins, provided three examples of community involvement.
He said the third-round series at Grissom is when he started to take notice. He said that on the day of the Saturday game, there seemed to be as many Trussville fans in Huntsville as Grissom fans.
Hewitt-Trussville players watch a game from the dugout during the Class 6A playoffs.
file photo by Ron Burkett
“It just grew and grew and grew,” Mauldin said.
When Hewitt-Trussville hosted No. 3 Hoover the next week, almost 3,000 people watched the series in two days. When the Huskies won the series, students and fans jumped the outfield fence and rushed the field.
“To me, that was overwhelming,” Mauldin said.
At Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery before facing Pelham for the Class 6A championship, some grounds crew workers told Mauldin they had been working there 10 years and had never seen a school supported like Hewitt-Trussville was by its fans. Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said the same thing, Taylor said.
“What happened this year is what I was starving for,” said Mauldin, who has now coached in the four state championship games.
Team members were Keegan Morrow, Connor Cox, Will Baumgartner, Will Pharis, Carter Pharis, Grayson Jones, Quin Jackson, Reid Gunter, Brent Robson, Matt Gatewood, Dakota Harwell, Casey Grammer, Alec Talley, Brett McCarty, Chandler DeRieux, Austin Treglown, DeMarcus Kelly, Cyle Moore, Bill Brown, Michael Busby, Jasen White, Riley Stokes, Kane Morrow, Blake Bailey, Luke Owens and Peyton Palmer.
The team was coached by Mauldin, Jeff Schrupp, Jay Jones, Guy Howard and Scott Bromley.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
