Members of Trinity’s baseball team pose for photos after a game this week.
TRINITY — First place not only feels different for members of Trinity’s baseball team, it is different.
“Winning a conference has always been a goal,” senior catcher Brody Little said. “It’s good to have it actually happen.”
The Bulldogs are regular-season champions in the Central Carolina 3-A Conference, securing the school’s first baseball conference title in 36 years.
“We are very proud,” ninth-year coach Ryan Spencer said. “We’ve got six guys who start most games are seniors. All seven find a way to contribute every single game. We also have some young guys who have been really, really good.”
Capped by a 5-0 victory Friday night at Wheatmore, Trinty went 9-1 in conference play to edge Providence Grove by one game in the standings.
This is what the Bulldogs have been chasing since before these players were born.
“We’ve strived for it and short fell, barely, every year until now,” senior outfielder Walker Parrish said. “I wouldn’t say we’re the most talented. We just all the do the little things and do our part.”
With seven seniors, there’s a veteran element to the group.
“It’s a goal that we had before the season,” senior first baseman Cameron Hill said. “We’re all so connected as one team. We put in the work so when it comes game time, we don’t have to panic. We trust our work.”
Center fielder Peyton Williams, the team’s No. 2 pitcher, said there’s a good mix on the roster.
“All of our players are good at something,” Williams said. “Everybody has put our work in.”
In the game that clinched at least a share of the title Tuesday night, reserve Josh Anderson, the only senior non-starter, drilled the game-ending single in a 12-2 home run-rule victory vs. Wheatmore. Spencer said that was fitting because contributions have been so widespread during the season.
Parrish drove in three runs and he and Williams each scored twice. Lincoln Coble pitched a complete game with 12 strikeouts.
Then Friday night, the Bulldogs used a five-run seventh inning for a 5-0 triumph at Wheatmore for the outright title. Williams pitched six innings and Hill worked the ninth.
The week’s outcomes have come with elation and perhaps relief.
“A lot of second places. The first time you do it, it’s pretty cool because you go from sixth to second, it’s pretty cool,” Spencer said. “Then you do it a couple of more times, and then, man, it sucks. We want to get one. So these guys have been through a lot together and to be able to get through it and stick together and come out on this side is a pretty cool experience.”
Little said there were high expectations because of the team’s veteran components. Parrish said the players have been together since middle school.
The coaching staff made sure it all meshed.
“Nobody deserves this more than our coaches and what they do,” Williams said. “Coach Spencer is always here and working on the field. His wife comes down here and gets him to come home. We make fun of him for that, but we appreciate what he does.”
Along the way, a conference championship always makes it on the Bulldogs’ list of goals.
“This year, it happened,” Williams said.
A conference opponent scored more than two runs against Trinity in only one game. The Bulldogs have continued to see the payoff.
“We’re really close this year, and we’re working like crazy,” Little said. “We’ve got incredible work ethic. We had it, and I think it’s over the top this year.”
And it has, finally, put the Bulldogs at the top.
Also …
Williams drove in three runs and Little had three hits in Trinity’s 8-3 non-conference road victory against Southwest Guilford on Wednesday.
