Actions often speak louder than words, and that’s why Grayson County High School baseball coach Jody Nutt was so pleased to see the hard work of his players rewarded with a winning record and a 12th District Tournament championship this season.
Both had been a long time in the making. The district title is the first for GCHS since 2018, and the 16-14 mark is the first winning season since 2015.
“The district tournament, since we had not won that since 2018, that’s very important,” said Nutt, who just completed his second season as head coach. “That shows the work that we put in, it paid off. It was very good for our program.
“It’s very rewarding because we’ve kind of gone through the last two seasons with goals and expectations that really haven’t changed over the last several years,” he said. “Last year (2022), we didn’t achieve hardly any of our goals that we set out for, where, this year, we achieved all of our goals except the first one, which was to win 20 games.”
An 8-3 close to the season pushed the Cougars to their winning record.
Grayson County edged Butler County, 7-6, in the district tournament semifinals and then won 13-8 over Whitesville Trinity in the final. Grayson County had three one-run wins over Butler County during the season.
The Cougars lost in their opening game of the 3rd Region Tournament, 9-6, to Apollo. Apollo is now in the state tournament semifinals.
Nutt said the commitment of the players to what the coaching staff has been telling them for two years was a big part of going from 7-17 to 16-14.
“First and foremost, the buy-in to not just me and the coaches, but the buy-in to each other was probably the biggest thing,” he said. “They loved each other, they got along, they hung out and spent time together outside of baseball. So that is probably the biggest thing because they really, truly meshed.”
Nutt said the seniors the Cougars lose, such as Eli Watson and Camden Brothers, will be heavy losses. Watson batted .306 with a team-high four homeruns, while Brothers went 6-0 with a 2.84 earned run average on the mound. He also batted .345.
“They were very important. They had the light switches that would turn on and off,” Nutt said. “Just the way they prepared themselves, their maturity meshed the team well. They were very important to us, and they loved the game.”
The Cougars return several key players, such as seniors Landon Shiarella and Jeren VanMeter, junior Landon Haycraft and sophomore Gage Napier.
Shiarella hit a team-best .384 and led the team in hits (38) and tied with Watson for the team lead with 34 runs batted in. Haycraft hit .345 with 30 hits and 19 stolen bases; VanMeter hit .330 and led the team in runs scored (37), walks (27) and stolen bases (30).
Napier was 5-6 on the mound with a 3.24 ERA. He had 71 strikeouts and 67 innings pitched.
“Our infield is going to kind of be in question of who will fill what voids, what spots,” Nutt said. “I think our pitching, we’re going to miss Camden on the mound, but Gage Napier, he’s going to be a workhorse and be really good. I think he’s going to be one of the top guys not only in our district, but even in the region. He’s one that’s really going to help us and have a lot of time on the mound.
“I think we’re still going to hit it real well, we just have to get a little bit better defensively,” Nutt added.