By Gary Lloyd
Every face will be familiar.
First-year Hewitt-Trussville head baseball coach Jeff Mauldin knows the players, coaches and parents from Pelham.
Mauldin coached there the past six seasons. First-year Pelham head coach Sean Anderson was Mauldin’s assistant the last six seasons, someone Mauldin speaks with at least once a week. So was David White, a good friend of Mauldin’s.
“I’m happy for them,” Mauldin said. “I think it’s exciting for those kids. Those kids deserve it
. Those coaches deserve it.”
No. 10 Hewitt-Trussville (34-11) faces Mauldin’s former team Friday and Saturday in Montgomery for the Class 6A state championship. The first game against Pelham (26-13) is Friday at 7 p.m. at Paterson Field. The second game is Saturday at 4 p.m. at Riverwalk Stadium. A third, if necessary, is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Riverwalk Stadium.
Mauldin compiled a 176-51 record in his six years at Pelham. He said last week it would be “unreal” to face his former school for the state title. Mauldin said he still has “great love” for the Pelham community, one he said is a lot like Trussville.
Mauldin has been here before. He won the 2003 state championship at Clay-Chalkville and coached the state runner-up teams in 2005 and 2006 at Clay-Chalkville.
Mauldin said it will be difficult this weekend, win or lose.
“I want those kids to succeed so much, I want those coaches to succeed so much,” Mauldin said of Pelham. “Then, all of a sudden, you’re playing them for everything. I guess for two hours you want them to fail, which would be so much against what I believe in for those kids. It has to be that way, I guess.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.