Editor’s note: This is an opinion column.
By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
Baseball is a game of failure.
It is, as Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin and I talked about the other day, sometimes a game of who blinks first. Players are trying to put a round bat on a round ball, and it is one of the most difficult things to do in sports.
I see a lot of baseball, and while programs like Hewitt-Trussville fascinate me because they are undeniably great (17-1 right now), the teams who struggle are just as compelling.
Springville is a strong program, but their record doesn’t reflect that right now. The Tigers are 9-9 overall, but part of that is the level of competition they’ve faced. The Tigers are always dangerous and by the time the playoffs roll around, they may be poised for another run at a championship.
Take Pinson Valley and Clay-Chalkville, two 6A programs who aren’t where they want to be right now. Clay-Chalkville is only 4-7 at the moment, but they just whipped Minor on Friday, 10-0. The Cougars expect to be good, and they’re working hard to get there.
For Pinson Valley, it’s been a tough season so far. The Indians head to the Gulf Coast Classic during Spring Break with only two wins, but there’s talent on the team. Isaiah Sims is a real-deal player at shortstop (he can pitch, too), and Taborie Reed is a player to watch.
Moody is clearly better than their 11-9 record. They’ve beaten Clay-Chalkville and Leeds, and came within a run of taking a win from Springville. Caleb Jatko looks really good on the mound, and the Johnson twins — Zach and Matt — are clearly very good. I expect the Blue Devils to continue to make strides and make a run as the season continues.
But I was talking about failure, right? That’s what baseball is about. It is order imposed on disorder, and there are more ways to get out than there are to get a hit. Guys go through slumps, and to that end, I gotta talk about a really, really good player who looks like he’s coming out of a slump.
Leeds’ Jarod Latta has had — by his own admission — a tough few weeks. However, on Thursday he absolutely dominated Ramsay at historic Rickwood Field, striking out 15 batters. That’s an incredible individual performance. On Saturday against Cherokee County, Latta bombed a grand slam.
I help coach baseball on my own kids’ teams, and Latta’s experience proves out what I tell the kids I coach: Keep doing the work, because as long as you keep putting in the work, it comes back around. You keep putting in the effort, and you’re going to have opportunities for it to pay off. Latta and the rest of this talented Leeds squad is putting in the effort, and it’s paying off.
The Green Wave is on a nine-game winning streak, pushing their record to 13-7. They’re playing some great baseball right now, and it’s a lot of fun to watch.
Sometimes the game isn’t about winning or losing, failure or success. It’s not whether the kids will fail, because everyone fails at some time or other. Sometimes the game is simply about putting in the work and waiting for the opportunity for it to pay off. The game, so much like life, is how you respond to failure.
I’m hoping it pays off for every team in The Tribune’s coverage area.
Bobby Mathews is sports editor at The Tribune. Email him: bobby.mathews@trussvilletribune.com or talk to him on Twitter: @bobbymathews.