It is a scene repeated over and over and over again after certain high school baseball games. After the third out is recorded and one team begins celebrating, only to remember that there is the ritual of the handshake line. Once that is completed, they continue the celebration.
And the other team doesn’t.
That team will slowly make its way down the foul line nearest its dugout and stop somewhere in the shallow part of the outfield grass. Significantly, in a place where privacy is needed.
This is the last moment that this team will be this team.
The Benton Tigers made that long, slow walk from the first base dugout at Field 41 at McMurry Park in Sulphur Thursday night after a 4-1 loss to Barbe.
The further you advance in the playoffs, the tougher that walk gets. And this was the Division I (Non-Select) semifinals, so that didn’t help.
Benton’s Dane Peavy had to make the speech that no coach wants to make but all do, except for the one that wins it all. But the last thing Peavy wanted to do was reflect on the actual game. There was too much to say about the journey to get there, but not enough words to say them.
“It’s a tough conversation to have,” Peavy said later.
The toughest thing for a coach in that situation is letting go. You know that when they walk away, it’s over. Not the game, but a little chunk of your athletic life goes away.
There are tears and hugs and “just one more picture!” before the realization sets in: The ride is over.
Or is it?
“I told our seniors that they really transcended this program,” Peavy said. “I told them to hold their heads high because what they did was set pace for history. There will come a time when we celebrate being a state champion and we’ll look back and remember these guys were the pillars of success of that path for future Benton players.”
Peavy had said earlier in the week when the season started, he thought the Tigers were probably a year away. And then they lost their top two pitchers.
From just about any angle you want to look it, this game was a mismatch. Benton was seeking its first state championship in Class 5A (the Tigers won it 2018 as a 4A school) while Barbe has run out of collective fingers for its 12 championship rings.
Barbe was the defending champion; Benton didn’t even get a home playoff series last year.
Barbe was the No. 1 seed; Benton was a double-digit seed (13), and those rarely make it to the state semifinals.
Barbe has more than a half dozen players who are committed to colleges that currently ranked in the Top 20, including a freshman who is committed to LSU. Benton has freshmen who do a great job getting the batting cage in place for BP and making sure there is water in the visiting dugout.
The Tigers might look back and point to being one strike away from being out of the pivotal fifth inning, when Barbe broke open a 0-0 game with three runs. Or the Tigers might think about having the bases loaded a couple of times and leaving runners stranded.
Or they might not.
The Tigers didn’t go through a tough regular season – and three even-tougher playoff series — just to be happy with a bus ride to Sulphur and miss a couple of days of school.
The Benton Tigers went toe-to-toe with a nationally-recognized program and didn’t blink. No one should be surprised.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com