It was a decade ago, 2009, when Ackerman won the MHSAA 2A State Championship in baseball. Members of that team will reunite Saturday and their accomplishment will be recognized prior to Choctaw County's 1 p.m. game with Philadelphia.
“I'm looking forward to it. Whenever I see any of them it's a good thing,” said Brad Mitchell who coached the Indians to the championship.”Those guys were a special group. They didn't have a whole lot of quit in them.”
Ackerman had to come from behind twice during the playoffs after dropping the opening game of a best-of-three series. The Indians opened the playoffs with sweeps of Simmons and Mantachie. They lost the first game to Belmont 10-7, but rebounded with 7-2 and 12-4 victories.
Ackerman swept Water Valley in the North State final, setting up a championship series with St. Andrew's at Trustmark Park in Pearl.
Ackerman once again had its back to the wall after losing the opening game 9-1. Mitchell recalls what he said to his players after that game. “I remember telling them the pressure is in the other dugout. The pressure is not on us. Nobody is expecting us to come back. We have never been here before. They have.”
The Indians responded with a 5-0 victory to even the series behind a complete game from Nich Morrow. “Believer it or not, he had broken his hand in the North half series. He pitched the game with a broken hand on his glove hand.”
That set up a decisive game for the championship May 18, 2009. “We got down early. But we got a couple of infield hits late in the game and made a run at the end.”
A key to the season were three games the Indians lost on a Spring Break trip to Florida. “There's no doubt the trip helped us,” Mitchell said, “It was more of a get to know each other kind of deal.”
Ackerman went 16-3 after the trip.
Mitchell coached at Ackerman for six years, 2007-12, with the 2009 championship the highlight. He was subsequently head coach at Eupora for two years and is in his fifth year as an assistant at Saltillo.
Mitchell keeps us with his former players by text and Facebook and expects to see most of the 2009 team Saturday. “I sent a reminder to all of the players.”
Two deceased members of the team, Shawn Stricklin and Josh Bryant. — will be remembered during the ceremonies.
