Latta rallies in bottom of sixth to beat McBee 3-2 to claim the Class A baseball state championship

   Florence – After being within two outs with no one on base from winning the Class A baseball state championship, Latta High School watched McBee score eight runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 12-5 victory in Game 2 of the best-of-3 title series on Wednesday. To add insult to injury, the Vikings coughed up the lead on their home field -- Buddy Johnson Memorial Baseball Stadium.

    So what words of wisdom did LHS head coach Robbie Brown impart upon his players to help prepare them for a winner-take-all Game 3 after such a devastating loss?

“It’s a series,” Brown said. “We can’t worry about the first win and the first loss. This is why you get to play three games.”

And it took all seven innings of Game 3 to truly determine a winner. Scoreless for 4 ½ innings, Latta broke the tie with one run in the bottom of the fifth only to see the Panthers score twice in the top of the sixth.

However, the Vikings used a 2-out, 2-run bloop double from sophomore Caden Hyatt in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead, and senior BW Berry struck out the side in the seventh for a complete-game, 3-2 victory on Saturday at a packed South Florence High field that likely held close to all of the residents from both Latta and McBee.

The title is the 10^th in program history for LHS, the first since 2018. Latta finishes the season with a 27-10 record, while McBee closes out at 22-13-1.

“We knew we had new life coming in on Saturday,” Hyatt said. “It was a different ball game. We just flipped the script. We knew if we played our ball game we would win this game.”

As stated earlier though, it was not easy.

The Vikings’ Logan Byrd was hit by relief pitcher Peyton Brigman to open their half of the sixth. Courtesy runner Danny McDowell made it to third on a pair of groundout soft rollers to third baseman Zane Boykin. Zach Lane drew a walk to set the stage for Hyatt.

He hit a sinking liner toward right field. Instead of conceding the run, rightfielder Lucas King tried to make an inning-ending catch. He was unable to do so and both McDowell and Lane scored to make it 3-2.

“I knew we were going to tie it at a minimum, if not go ahead,” Brown said in regards to his thoughts as Hyatt stepped in the batter’s box. “They’ve done it all year. They’ve been resilient and I’m honored to coach these guys.”

“I was like the team needs me,” Hyatt said. “I’ve got to come through here, I’ve got to be big. I just wanted to focus on the at-bat and put the ball in play.

“I was real nervous (when I hit it). I thought he might catch the ball. I just kept running and the ball fell.”

Berry fanned Cooper Rollings, King and McBee leadoff hitter Chris Stone to close out the game and set off a big celebration. It was the second complete game of the series for Berry, who scattered four hits in an 11-1, 6-inning Game 1 victory the previous Saturday. He again allowed just four hits while striking out 10, nine coming over the final four innings. He walked two, one intentionally, and hit a batter.

“He did well last Saturday, and we knew if we had to go to a Game 3, he was going to get the ball,” Brown said of Berry, one of three seniors along with catcher Mason Weatherford and second baseman Fischer Richardson. “I got on him at practice last night (Friday), and it’s a standard he asked me to hold him to. I texted him later and told him it wasn’t personal. He texted me back and said, ‘I love you,’ and, ‘We’re going to win.’

“That’s just who he is. He’s full of confidence. He loves this team, loves this community. He will do anything for anybody with (Latta) green on.”

Berry was very matter of fact about what happened in practice and his performance.

“It was just about setting an example as a senior,” Berry said. “I feel like I trusted my stuff pretty good. I think I pitched pretty well.”

Senior left-hander Hayden Griggs started on the mound for the Panthers for the second straight game. He pitched 2 2/3 innings on Wednesday, and MHS head coach Josh Tiller thought it was the right move for the moment.

“He’s a senior and we wanted the ball in a senior’s hand,” Tiller said. “We told him to go out and finish up strong. This was going to be his last game either way. We wanted the ball in his hands, and he came out and pitched really well.”

Griggs allowed five hits in 4 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking none while hitting a batter.

He threw shutout ball through the first four innings. However, Latta pushed across a run in the bottom of the fifth.

Hyatt led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Josiah Durant. Richardson singled to left field and Hyatt easily beat the throw home to make it 1-0.

Brigman came on in relief and struck out Berry and got Weatherford to fly out to end the inning.

McBee had the top of the batting order up in the sixth and it capitalized. Stone drew a leadoff walk before JJ Melton popped out on the infield. However, Hayden Griggs followed with a deep fly ball to right that looked like it might leave the yard. It fell short, but it was enough for a double that sent Stone to third.

Berry struck out Manning Tolson for the second out before the Vikings chose to intentionally walk Brigman to load the bases. Hunter Griggs responded with a base hit to right that scored Stone and Hayden Griggs for a 2-1 lead.

    McBee missed out on a great scoring opportunity in the fourth. After Berry struck out Stone to start the inning, Melton and Hayden Griggs had consecutive singles and Tolson was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

    Berry got out of the inning unscathed though by whiffing Brigman and Hunter Griggs.

“We definitely missed an opportunity there,” Tiller said. “Any time you get the bases loaded like that you want to capitalize and at least get a couple across. That one really came back to get us right there.”

Hayden Griggs led the Panthers offensively, going 2-for-3 with a double. Hunter Griggs had a hit and two runs batted in, and Melton had the other hit. Stone had the other run.

“This was not the ending we wanted to have tonight, but the guys fought all year long,” Tiller said. “We kept getting better each week and started putting stuff together shortly before the playoffs. We had a great playoff run. We just came up short tonight.

“They had nothing to hold their heads about tonight. They fought all the way through to the last out. This team has showed so much fight and grit. A lot of people didn’t have us making it this far. For the guys to fight through and battle all season long and to make it to the championship series is great. Hats off to the Latta team.”

    The Vikings finished with six hits with Hyatt, Richardson and Bryson Berry each accounting for two hits. Hyatt scored a run and had two RBI, while Richardson had the other RBI.

    BW Berry said going out as a state champion is hard to believe.

“It means everything,” he said. “It’s all we ever wanted. I think we knew we were going to score (in the sixth). We knew we would come back just like we’ve done so many times.”

Brown paid tribute to both his team and one of his predecessor, the legendary Don Cribb.

“I know I can never be Don Cribb, but I hope I can leave a lasting impact like he did,” Brown said.

Cribb led the Vikings to state titles m 2015 as well as 2018 before passing away from cancer in December of 2021.

As far as his team goes, Brown said what the Vikings did on Saturday was par for the course throughout the year.

“They want to compete, they want to win,” he said. “This team is super special to me, not because we won it all, but because they continue to find a way even when all seems hopeless.

“That’s our mentality. We’re the cardiac Vikings. That’s what we do. We may be down, but we’re not out until the last pitch is thrown, the last out is made.”