Ariton earns 2A state title with walk-off win over Vincent

Ariton interim head coach Bob Pickett had a brief conversation with senior Paxton Steed before Steed stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday night.

What did they talk about?

“Turkey hunting,” Pickett said. “I just wanted to take his mind of the moment a little bit.”

It must have worked.

Steed proceeded to rip a 2-2, two-out pitch to left field for a single, scoring Landon Tyler from third with the winning run, as Ariton defeated Vincent 5-4 in walk-off fashion to win the Class 2A state baseball title at Jacksonville State.

The Purple Cats (31-12-1) won Game 1 2-1 on Monday night behind the pitching of MVP Phenix Griffin.

“I’m proud of these guys,” said Pickett, who replaced Logan Dunlap as the team’s coach on March 13. “I’m proud of the resolve they showed all the way through the playoffs, the way they learned mental toughness and discipline. We had times in other rounds where we had to battle through adversity. I think that helped us tonight.”

The state title was the first for Ariton. Vincent (30-7) was trying to win its third and its first since winning back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1985.

“We’ve never won a state championship,” senior Connor Thrash said. “This opens the door and tells everyone that we can do it in any sport.”

Ariton held a 4-3 lead going into the seventh inning, but Vincent’s Casen Fields led off with a single and stole second base. He scored the tying run on Easton Fields’ RBI double. Suddenly, the Yellow Jackets had the tying run at second with no one out, and Pickett made a visit to the mound to speak to starter Coleman Bragg.

“Coleman wasn’t his best at first, but I thought he got better as the game went on,” Pickett said. “They strung together 11 hits, but he kept us in the game and gave us a chance. I knew he was running out of gas there at the end, but I kept thinking if we can keep it tied, we can walk it off.”

That’s exactly what happened.

Bragg retired the next three Vincent batters in order to leave the potential winning run on base. He threw 118 pitches, striking out five and walking just one.

“I just had to find a way to get out of it,” Bragg said. “I needed to keep that guy on second. I just needed to get a ground ball, a fly ball, anything to get us out of it.”

With the game tied 4-4 in the bottom half of the inning, Landon Tyler reached on a fielder’s choice, went to second on a ground out and reached third on a wild pitch before Steed came through with the solid single to win it.

“Early in the year, Paxton struggled because he was coming off a shoulder injury,” Pickett said. “I think he was focused on wanting to pitch, but when that door closed, he got real hot at the plate. You had to make him get out of the cage. He just has had big hit after big hit.”

Vincent outhit Ariton 11-4, but the Yellow Jackets also committed four errors, leading to four unearned Purple Cat runs.

“I’m super proud of these guys,” Vincent coach Timothy Junkins said. “They fought hard all year. They’ve been through a lot of adversity. Not a lot of people gave us a chance to be here at the beginning of the year. They’ve fought hard game in and game out. They fought hard this whole series. We just couldn’t get timely hits last night, and tonight couldn’t make the plays when we needed to. We lost two one-run games to a really good team.”

Key stats: Ariton – Lawson Leger went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Taylor scored a pair of runs. Steed and Dalton Murphy each had a hit. Vincent – Casen Fields was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Easton Fields was 2-for-3 with the game-tying RBI. Grayson Gulde was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Aiden Gasaway had a hit and two RBIs. Casen Fields took the loss in relief of Zac Carlisle. Fields went four innings and allowed two hits and one run.

Did you know? Ariton was ranked No. 8 in the final Class 2A Alabama Sports Writers Association poll of 2023, which came after the regular season. Vincent was No. 9.

They said it:

“I just wanted Ariton and our team to experience this and taste it. This can lay the foundation for the program.” – Pickett.

“This team always been special. We are a great group. We all love each other.” – Thrash.

“As a town, as a community, as a school – we are where we are because of this senior class. These guys have been special. Whatever you want to say about Vincent, these guys got us this far, and we aren’t going anywhere. We have good young players who fed of the character of our seniors. In my mind, we are just going to keep it rolling.” – Junkins.

“I think the community really needed something like this run. It brought us all together and put faith in what we have here at Vincent. It put smiles on everyone’s faces. It’s been something special.” – Carlisle on Vincent’s playoff run.