Reported by Jack Witthaus

Prep Baseball Report talked with Willard’s head coach Scott McGee about the team, some of the magic in the postseason, and what it’s like to play in front of the hometown crowd in the Final Four.

 

Prep Baseball Report: What’s it been like this year for Willard, Coach? What’s been your feelings on the team?

Coach McGee: Well, we’re mainly seniors, and we’ve got a group of kids that has just worked really hard over the last four years but especially this last year to get better at the game. We don’t have that one standout guy, but one through nine we’re competitive, and we’ve got a deep pitching staff and we’re solid defensively. We’re always in the game and here lately we’ve had a little bit of magic about us, I guess. You know, we can find ways to win and come from behind to win games.

 

PBR: Yes, speaking of the magic let’s go back to the game against Helias in the quarterfinal. What was it like when your shortstop Trevor Bowling had the game-winning single in the eighth inning? 

SM: Well, I think we were kind of building up to that. Trevor is probably the guy we want up most in that situation. I think pretty much everyone on our team and all of our coaches feel that way. As that inning got started and you see a couple of guys get on, you kind of know that Bowling was going to step up in that situation. I think everyone was kind of relaxed and understood that if we could get to him (Bowling) with less than two outs and runners in scoring position, he was going to find a way to get them home. So when they walked (third baseman Austin) Pippin to load the bases with one out, I think everyone was pretty excited. He (Bowling) battled and had a six-pitch at bat, and on that sixth pitch just hit a nice line drive up the middle. I don’t know if you’ve seen the news clips, but our dugout just went out and tackled him on first base. I think one of our assistant coaches was the first one there because he was so excited.

 

PBR: Has the rest of the playoff run been this magical for your team or has it been difficult?

SM: We actually won our first district game (over Neosho) 1-0. In the District championship (against Carl Junction), we were down 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh with seven-eight-nine coming up at the plate. It was looking bleak, so we kind of just put some balls in play and had a runner on third with one out and a tied game. We just hit a weak ground ball, and we were able to just beat it across the plate to take a 3-2 win. In sectionals (against Nixa), just three pitches into the game we were behind 2-0. Then, our pitchers settled down and threw outstanding. We scored five runs over the next few innings. So, all three wins in our last three games have been come-from-behind wins. 

 

PBR: Wow your team must be pretty excited to go into State this year.

SM: They are. I think it’s something that everybody talks about doing, but I don’t know how many people view it as a realistic goal. I think if you asked all of our kids, they probably say they thought we’d be good this year, but not be a favorite to make it to the Final Four or anything like that. We knew we’d have a chance because baseball’s a funny game and there’s probably 30 teams in the state every year that has a chance to go to the Final Four. It’s been (for us) a lot of momentum and luck and playing well at the right time. All those things factor in. Because we can pitch, we knew we’d have a chance. And we have pitched extremely well over the last month of the season. We knew we’d have a shot because we’ve been throwing the ball well and playing well.

 

PBR: Well, Coach, it must be pretty exciting to play in front of the hometown crowd at Meador Park. I guess the commute is about 10 or 15 minutes for you guys. 

SM: Yes, it should take us about 15 minutes (to get to the ballpark). Our fan base is very excited. We had a huge crowd travel to the Division championship, and then we’ve hosted the last two games. Our stands have been packed—they were packed an hour and a half before the District game. It was standing room only well before game time there. Our bleachers can seat 400, but I think we had well over 500 there that night. We got a smaller town. If you drove into our town, you would not expect us to be a Class 4 school. I think we have about 2,700 people that live in the town of Willard. But the people in Willard are very excited about high school sports. This is a team that everyone has enjoyed watching play because they are so competitive and work so hard to find ways to win. So, it’s a nice rally for us and I think everyone is pretty excited.

 

PBR: Okay final question, Coach. What are your feelings going up against Parkway North, a team that beat a very tough SLUH ballclub? 

SM: At this point, everyone you play is going to be good. So, I don’t think anyone thinks we are going to walk into some easy matchup. I think everyone’s good at this point. Everyone’s playing with momentum and magic. I think our guys are just excited about the opportunity to play together two more times and to string together 14 more good innings of baseball over a two-day span and see what happens. I won’t be surprised if we take fourth, and I won’t be surprised if we win the championship. I think our guys are just loose and relaxed and ready to compete.