Rossville rides underdog mentality to another baseball sectional title

REMINGTON − Rossville’s baseball team approached Monday’s sectional championship with something of an underdog mentality.

After graduating five seniors from its 2022 championship roster and going into this season with six freshmen and one sophomore, one can safely assume that mentality has been with the Hornets all year.

Underdogs or not, the status remained the same as it did last year at the end of May: sectional champions.

The Hornets defeated county rival Clinton Central 6-3 at Remington Park in what marked back-to-back sectional championships and Rossville's fifth sectional crown in the last six postseasons.

Using the underdog mindset, the approach for the Hornets has been a simple one.

“It just motivates us to play hard the whole time,” junior pitcher Matt Ford said. “Being the underdog is so much better because you don’t have any pressure on you. You just go out, have fun, do your best and if you play your hardest, you can come out on top.”

On the mound, Ford didn’t play like an underdog.

He pitched seven innings and struck out nine.

But on the season, the Hornets didn’t come out of the gates with as resilient of an effort.

Starting the season losing six of their first eight games, the Hornets struggled to find their way but for head coach Brad Scott, staying the course landed them in familiar territory once again.

“I think it just takes time when you play a bunch of freshmen to really transition to the varsity level," Scott said. "We went all year just trying to find the right pieces and finally the last week of the season, we find the pieces that we were comfortable with and we roll with it.

“Thirty games into a season, freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. They’ve had a ton of experience this season, continue to grow, continue to buy into the Rossville style of playing and we’re here today.”

In back-to-back games, Rossville (13-7) trailed from the start, beginning with a semifinal matchup against Tri-County that found the Hornets in a two-run deficit before rattling off a five-run fourth inning to ease them to the title game.

It was more of the same on Monday when Rossville fell behind by two going into the fourth before erupting for five runs in the next three innings.

One of the key pieces in their championship comeback was Kolton Davis, who went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in while noting that despite the fight that Clinton Central put up, repeating as sectional champion over their rival Bulldogs make the win even sweeter.

“Just to come back and beat them (Clinton Central) back-to-back years with a young group of guys, it means a lot as a team,” Davis said. “We fought, we got beat in the first couple of innings and then we turned it around and really just started to punch in the mouth. … It was a struggle. (Clinton Central's) Luke Davison did a great job pitching but we ended up figuring out a way to beat them.”