'This one is for coach Lee Tingle': Resurrection Catholic baseball dedicates MHSAA title to late assistant

PEARL — Cole Tingle's sunglasses couldn't hide his emotions following Game 2 of the MHSAA Class 2A championship on Thursday at Trustmark Park.

The senior helped deliver Resurrection Catholic back-to-back state championships with a 10-1 victory over West Union. Tingle allowed two hits with five strikeouts and went 1-of-4 with two RBIs. Resurrection Catholic won 8-7 in Game 1.

However, Tingle was thinking about his late uncle following the game. Lee Tingle — a longtime assistant with the Eagles — died in December after receiving a Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease diagnosis last year.

Resurrection Catholic's latest state title, the second in program history, was dedicated to the former coach.

"This one is for coach Lee Tingle," Eagles coach Eric Denmark said. "We just played for him all season long. We've endured a lot in the last nine months. Players have come out each day and just put forth the effort to get to this point. This one is for him and the Tingle family, for Trace (Tingle) and Cole.

"He was a big part of this program. I don't think we would be here today celebrating without coach Tingle. We loved him so much and admired him. He did so much for all of us."

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Resurrection Catholic (27-9) trailed 1-0 in the fifth before senior Walker Frederic and junior Jesus San Miguel combined for two RBIs and the Eagles capitalized on two wild pitches from West Union. Resurrection Catholic found its groove again in the sixth scoring six runs while Cole held West Union (28-6) hitless after the first inning.

"I just threw strikes and let my defense play behind me," Cole said. "We knew coming into it that they could swing the bat, in the first inning they found a few holes. They're a good team and they'll be back."

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Resurrection Catholic finished the season on a 19-game winning streak and hadn't lost since Feb. 28. Cole credits the team staying together while mourning the loss of their coach before the season.

"We knew it was coming," Cole said. "We just worked hard and he prepared us right for it. It was a struggle at first then we figured out how to play together and we got the team chemistry. We won 19 games in a row. We couldn't be stopped."