Coronavirus costs Madison High baseball a shot at titles

Paul Moon
Asheville Citizen Times

From the moment their run to the third round of the state playoffs ended in 2019, Madison High School’s baseball team began focusing their time and energy towards their goals for the 2020 season.

Led by 13 senior standouts: Michael Hensley, Trevor Jones, Kannon Coates, Ransom Boone, Macean Metcalf, Daniel Hensley, Daniel Loredo, Russell Moore, Conor Foley, Austin Bowens, Timothy Wilson, Lorenzo Loredo and William Letterman, the 2020 Patriots baseball team targeted a conference championship and a run to a state title before the coronavirus pandemic put an end to their season after just one game, a 7-3 win over Polk March 10.

In Zoom video call with some of his senior teammates in May, the team’s second baseman Ransom Boone shared his perspective on the abrupt end of classes and the baseball season. “It’s kind of like we’re adults too early,” he said of the situation that now sees him working in the electrical trade instead of adding at-bats.

Madison's William Letterman dumps a cooler of water on coach Ronald Tipton after defeating West Stanly 13-5 May 9, 2019 in Marshall.

“I never thought I’d miss school, but I kind of do a little bit, mostly because school means baseball,” said Macean Metcalf, a utility player who was quick to call himself the team’s “real second baseman” and is set to play for Brevard College next season.

The jokes the teammates shared in a short virtual conversation underscored the real bond between players who have taken the field together for a long time. Most of the seniors have been in batting orders together since before they were teenagers.

Madison High School baseball players Ransom Boone, Macean Metcalf, Daniel and Lorenzo Loredo, joined head coach Ronald Tipton and reporter Paul Moon for a Zoom call in May to talk about the lost season.

“It sucks, man, I’ll be honest with you,” Ronald Tipton, the team’s manager, said when he joined the call. “This has been the worst thing in my career so far. These kids have started this process when they were probably 7-or 8-years-old. I can’t tell you the way these kids have committed and slaved for the opportunity. It all climaxes your senior year, theoretically. To see this get taken away from these kids has been a very hard thing to stomach, to be honest with you.”

‘Being smarter than everyone else’

In the call, Tipton and his players expressed confidence that this year’s Patriots would have been better and would have achieved more than the 2019 squad. The team finished with a 15-9 record, including a 12-3 conference mark, setting a new bar for school’s baseball program. After that team’s win in the second round of the state playoffs, Tipton guessed that it was the first Madison High team to advance to the third round since the mid-1980s.

"We're a rural country school. Our record keeping is not the best," Tipton said at the time with a laugh. "We're digging to find exactly the last time we did this, but we know it's been a long time."

Following the third-round defeat to Oak Grove, this year’s senior class dedicated themselves to advancing further.

“Immediately we went right back to work,” Tipton said. “As soon as summer clicked in, summer ball started for us, weight room, speed and agility training, then most of our kids went into fall ball if they weren’t playing other sports. Then indoor hitting, going straight into a throwing program in January and then come out ready to rock in February. These kids show up in droves. They’ve been conditioned to work and that’s what we hang our hat on.”

Madison Head Baseball Coach Ronald Tipton celebrates the 2019 team's landmark second round playoff win over West Stanly.

The players spoke of the pride they take in being “grinders.” They were also quick to credit their coach for individual and team success.

“As soon as I started working with him, I became so much better as a person and an athlete,” Boone said.

Metcalf spoke of how work ethic and Tipton’s coaching pushed the team to achieve beyond what they may have imagined their potential could be. “We’re not the most athletically gifted program," he said. "We don’t have kids that are 6’3” and wake up in the morning throwing 92. I think we all got better by being smarter than everyone else, mostly because coach is a smarter coach than everyone else.”

‘This year was going to be a statement’

Losing out on the chance to prove what the team could accomplish gnaws on some of the players.

“This was the year for us to prove what we were working on for our whole life,” Timothy Wilson said in a phone call. Though the first baseman and pitcher will continue his baseball career at Brevard College next year, the dream of lifting trophies in a Patriot uniform will go unrealized. “That’s really what we were planning on doing, it was always on our minds. It was about doing it more than just for us, it was to make Madison County proud. To show everyone that Madison ain’t who they used to be.”

“This year was going to be a statement,” Metcalf said with conviction, adding that the seniors will also miss the opportunity to pass along their knowledge and experience to the next generation of Patriots. “One of the biggest parts of playing is the bus ride home and sitting with the young kids and talking to them about what they did wrong that game and what they need to do different.”

Daniel Hensley bumps fists with teammates after scoring in the Patriots second round playoff win over West Stanly in 2019. Hensley was one of 13 players to miss out on his senior season due to the coronavirus.

“I’ll miss being around everyone,” Lorenzo Loredo said on the Zoom call as he stood beside his twin brother Daniel. “You know, hanging out after practice, doing stupid things after games and before games.”

The players also understand that the canceled season has had an impact beyond just those in the dugout. “Losing this season is hard on all of us, including our parents,” Russell Moore wrote in an email. “They are the ones who supported us from the beginning. I feel they are losing just as much, with losing senior year. We would have never made it this far without our parents.”

While the lost season brought about a mixture of emotions, none expressed bitterness about decisions around a virus made “by people smarter than us,” as Metcalf put it. Instead, the student athletes expressed an acceptance of the unprecedented situation with a wisdom seemingly beyond their years.

“I would tell other people, I would tell my kid, not to take for granted what you have, because you never now when it is going to be taken out from under you,” Boone said when asked for his takeaway from the experience.

“Coach says it a lot, he says, ‘Don’t have any regrets, so put all the time in when you have the chance,’” Metcalf said. “I think we all understood what he was saying, but I don’t think you really understand until something is taken away from you. So, now that it is taken away, I would say, ‘Do extra.’ Because you never know when something silly like this is going to happen. I mean, we never thought we'd lose the season to a disease.”

After hearing the perspectives of some of his players, Tipton spoke with genuine admiration for all the young men he’s coached since they were 12. “They’re super kids,” he said at the end of the call. “A lot of people throw the word love around, but I have a level of love and care for these kids that I couldn’t put into words for you. I’m not really a mushy-gushy guy by nature, but I will tell you this, they’re the best group of kids I could ever be blessed with coaching. My heart is broken not being able to spend this senior year with them.”