By Erik Harris
PINSON – Like it was torn straight from the script of “The Sandlot”, one summer presented one challenge that changed the path of Pinson Valley head baseball coach Shane Chappell.
He didn’t pickle The Beast or make a best friend that would go on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he did find out that baseball was life.
While coming home to Corner, Chappell needed a summer job, and he found one. He said ‘yes’ to coaching a 15 and 16-year-old baseball team through the hot months ahead, until he would report back to the University of North Alabama for his senior year.
Pinson Valley head baseball coach Shane Chappell. submitted photo
To the high-minded scholar, it was just a way to pass the summer days so he could get back to campus, where a senior baseball season and a path to law school awaited.
“I really, intentionally going through college never planned on going into teaching and coaching,” said Chappell. “Didn’t think I would ever do it. I was actually going to try to go to law school.”
That summer, Chappell grabbed a fungo and took the diamond for his first coaching experience. After a couple months of teaching a game he had played his whole life, he knew law school would have to wait.
“Until my junior year of college, I was going to law school,” said Chappell. “I wasn’t going to be a teacher and coach, but then I kind of had that moment that summer.”
Now, standing at the end of his second semifinal run in three years as the head man at Pinson Valley, Chappell knows he chose wisely. The coach just won his second Jefferson County Baseball Coach of the Year award in three seasons with the Indians.
He holds an 84-48 overall record at Pinson Valley and has lost out to the eventual state champion in both of his trips to the final four of the state playoffs. The Indians fell twice at Hartselle in 2013’s Class 5A bracket and repeated the process this season at Cullman as a member of Class 6A.
Chappell coached this year’s squad to the semifinals after starting the season with a loosing record of 7-9. Pinson Valley ended 2015 with a mark of 32-15.
This past season reminds Chappell of the summer team he started with in Corner. That team navigated through the regular season with an average appearance before exploding onto the postseason scene.
“I coached them about the same way I coach our guys today,” said Chappell. “I still adjust and change year to year now, but my base philosophy and our base principles of what we try to do is kind of grounded in that summer.”
“We weren’t very good, but got better as the summer went on. (We) ended up winning our district tournament; ended up winning the state tournament and came in second in the World Series. That was kind of an eye-opening moment for me. And that’s when I changed my mind for my career.”
That career has since opened the eyes of several programs across the state. According to Chappell, he receives phone calls about potential job openings every year, but remains happy in his current situation.
“I get a lot of freedom here,” said Chappell. “Our administration has been great to me. They allow me to do what I do and trust that I’m doing the best job that we can do.”
He went on to explain that it would take a special opportunity to take him away from his current situation.
“It’s not going to be for just any regular ole head coaching job,” said Chappell. “Financially, it would have to be better. Baseball would have to be better. School environment would have to be better, so it would be tough to match what we do here.”
