STARKVILLE — If there was emotion, the dark sunglasses Starkville High baseball coach Danny Carlisle wore hid it.
Carlisle coached the final game of his 35-year coaching career Saturday afternoon in a 6-1 loss to New Hope in the semifinals of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State playoffs.
New Hope won 4-0 Friday night on a walk-off grand slam by Tee Payne in the bottom of the seventh. Saturday’s contest didn’t hold similar drama, as the Trojans used a workman-like approach to ease into the next round.
“We knew this day would come,” said Carlisle, who retired after last season but returned to coach the 2012 squad as a part-time employee of the school district. “We knew it would be sad when it came. It is not sad because of me, it is sad because another group of outstanding young men fell short of playing for the state championship.
“I have carried teams to Jackson five times (and won three state championships). I know what it takes. You have to have a special team. You have to catch the breaks. You have to be playing well at the right time. Everything has to fall in place. Today is sad because it did not fall in place for this very deserving group.”
A year ago, Starkville missed the postseason and Carlisle announced his retirement at season’s end. After much debate and speculation, a plan was put in place to allow Carlisle to coach this season as a part-time employee of the school district. Neshoba Central’s Brian Jones has already been introduced to the Starkville family as Carlisle’s successor.
The 2012 Yellow Jackets (21-9) responded with a strong campaign and won the region championship on the final day of the regular season. Earning a bye through the play-in round of the playoffs, Starkville beat Center Hill in the first round.
“It looked like things were going our way, but they didn’t in this series,” Starkville senior second baseman Jordan Allgood said. “In these two games, you saw all the reasons why you love baseball and all the reasons why you hate the game. It came down to timely hits. They had some and we didn’t. We got men on and didn’t do anything with our chances.”
Carlisle hit thousands of rounds of fungo as a coach, including the last 29 seasons as Starkville High’s head coach. Carlisle only wished he had been the one hitting the groundballs Saturday.
Starkville made four critical infield errors. The first two led to two runs. The fourth and final one prevented a potential play at the plate on another New Hope score.
“Walks (nine issued by SHS) and errors will come back to kill you every time,” Carlisle said. “They certainly did today to us. We gave them so many opportunities. You can’t win championship games … you can’t win playoff games when you make the mistakes that we did. That is not really like us, either. That is why you are disappointed. It was not the way you wanted the season to end.”
Friday’s night was a pitcher’s duel which came down to the final at-bat. With two outs, Payne slapped a 3-2 pitch over the outfield wall for the game-winner. Starkville was asked to put that emotional letdown behind them in less than 18 hours.
“I don’t think it really had an effect,” Allgood said. “It was toughest loss I have ever been through. But, I thought we bounced back strong. I thought the attitude was really good in the dugout. We knew we could play with New Hope. Everybody was excited about getting this thing started.”
Starkville built a 1-0 lead but stranded two runners in the first inning. The Yellow Jackets stranded 10 for the game and didn’t score again.
“It was not there for us on the offensive end,” Carlisle said. “We competed. We fought hard. It just was not there for us in the end.”
As the final out was recorded, a handful of supporters trickled onto the Carlisle Field playing surface to hug Carlisle and to wish him well in his retirement one last time. Several players sat in a daze in the dugout amazed the dream run had ended.
“Playing for Coach Carlisle has been an incredible experience,” said senior pitcher Nathan Pugh, who took the loss. “It really means a lot to me that this was our final year together. I learned so much from him. This has been an incredible journey.”
The emotional final run was a year-long grind, with several pauses for reflection along the way. The playing surface was named for the longtime coach before Starkville’s first playoff game this season against Center Hill. Earlier in the season, the school district held a day of recognition in his honor. Earlier in the week, a celebrity roast was held at the Greensboro Center.
“The outpouring of love and support this year was amazing,” Carlisle said. “The bottom line is the young people. The game has always been about the young people. Hopefully, along the way we have touched some lives. Hopefully, we have made some of these boys who played here better men.”
Consider Allgood one Yellow Jacket who was touched.
“Playing for him was so awesome … so incredible,” Allgood said. “The best experience I could have had. It was one hell of a ride.”
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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