Around the Horn presented by Salina Ortho

Let's go "Around the Horn" with Salina Ortho, Kansas Pregame's look at some of the top baseball stories from across the state, presented by Central Kansas' largest Orthopedic's Practice, Salina Ortho.

Special to Kansas Pregame

The Olathe South Falcon baseball team huddled up for a team meeting in mid-season. Their record was four games under .500 and playing postseason baseball seemed insurmountable. 

“We got together when we were 3-7 at the beginning of the year and coach Perkins came up to us and said ‘This is my last year boys’ and he said ‘We’re going to shock the world and go win state’ and we did,” Nebraska signee Gavin Blachowicz said.

“The belief that the players have in each other made this possible,” said coach Josh Perkins, who announced earlier this season he was retiring after the season. “It would have been real easy for them to quit when times were tough, but they believed in each other.”

After that team meeting, the Falcons went from state potential to state threats. They won 13 of their last 19 games, including the only 6A team to win their last five straight in regionals and state.

“We practiced every day going into the regionals and I feel like we really worked on the little stuff a lot more,” said Timothy Wood, who’s signed with St Mary University in Leavenworth. “We really worked on our defense, really got the mechanics down. I feel like we also started to mold together as a team and understand what each other brings to the team. We brought the energy and we just got hot.”

“A lot of trust in each other. We knew we had a ton of support the whole way so if things weren’t going our way, we knew we’d have support no matter what,” Wisconsin-River Falls signee Jack Richards said.

Colin Guerra, who’s headed to Chipola College (Florida), said it was a great feeling to share as a team. 

“The past couple of years we had worked hard to get to where we wanted but always ended up short and disappointed,” Guerra said. “This time the dream came true. I’m just really glad that we got to send him (Perkins) out on the way we wanted to.”

“The relationships that I have with the players means more to me than any championship,” said the 16-year Falcon skipper. “At the end of the day, I think most coaches want to have an impact that goes far beyond the diamond. We want them to be great husbands and fathers just as much as we want them to be great ball players.”

Sophomore catcher Dax Grissom said the Falcons finally delivered for their coach. 

“He always told us that the game was never about him. That we should play our hearts out for our team and ourselves,” Grissom said. “We won’t ever look back and regret not giving it our all. And that’s what we did.”

Hutchinson Community College-bound Noah McCombs expounded on the midseason huddle.

“After he (Perkins) walked away the team stayed in the huddle and said ‘there’s no other option but to win the whole thing this year,’ “ McCombs said.

Last Friday night, the Falcons beat Blue Valley West 10-2 to win the Class 6A state championship with a 16-13 record. They entered postseason with an 11-13 log and the 14 (out of 16) seed in the East bracket.

Quinton Coats, Cincinnati Bearcat signee, caught the final out in center field. 

“First thought was get the ball in my back pocket, I’m holding on to this. Second was just get to the (dog) pile as quick as possible to celebrate with my guys,” Coats said. “I kept it and all the guys signed it and we gave it to coach Perkins.”

Charlie Lawrence, likely playing for a junior college this fall, rapped an RBI single in a five-run fifth.

“When I got my hit the first person I looked at was coach Perkins and he was so happy for me,” an emotional Lawrence said. “I got to third base and we were both tearing up and I said thank you for everything coach and he said you deserve this moment so much and hugged me. He said that he’s so proud of me and he knew I would come through. And it was such a beautiful moment on third base during the state championship having a memorable moment with a coach that has coached me the past four years.”

“We were disappointed after last year’s season,” Austin O’Gorman, who signed with Northwest Missouri State, said. “Which gave us a little chip on our shoulder. We understood that we had all the talent that we needed to win it all. But it was going to take all of us. It was amazing to be apart of. When challenges arose someone new stepped up every time. It was truly a full team effort.”

Perkins got to experience the moment with his family, including mom, Mary Lynn Perkins and dad, Don who started the South baseball program when the school opened in 1981. Until Tuesday, Perkins 1.0 and 2.0 had either been a head or assistant in 43 years of South baseball.

“Mom told me that she was so happy for me and proud of me. My dad, on his way to give me a hug, he looked at me and said great job,” Perkins 2.0 said. “Then as the coach he is, started talking to me about all the decisions that were made during the game that helped us win. Coaches never quit thinking about the game.”

“We knew from the start of the season that the only games that mattered were the two you play at the end of the season (regionals),” Guerra said of regional wins over Gardner-Edgerton and Blue Valley. “Once we got there we were confident in our abilities and the guys we had on the mound and in the batter’s box. One game at a time was our approach and we took advantage of every opportunity we got. We beat the best pitching in the state to get to state and it was all she wrote from there. We knew who we were and that’s all that mattered to us.”

It was 2.0’s first state championship after 1.0 won a pair.

“It had been years in the making with all of the talent that has run through South in the past few years,” Grissom said. “But it just so happened that we were the team that played good baseball at the right time.”

“We wanted to send coach out with a bang,” Blachowicz said. “Even though most of our team is seniors and we wanted to for ourselves, we knew we had to do this for coach Perkins. We knew we had the talent and the tools, we just needed to piece it together. But we had what other teams didn’t have, and that’s heart.”

“We could’ve not drawn this up better, truly a walk off into the sunset for coach Perkins, creating a memory that we and this school will never forget,” Lawrence noted.

Perkins 2.0 concluded with this. 

“What a storybook ending that I do not deserve. It was too perfect,” he said. “The boys played their best baseball at the right time. We had played great defense, hit well and pitched well this year, just never all at the same time. I knew it was possible, but more importantly, the players knew it was possible. That is what allowed this to happen.