PHEBA — Hard work.
Todd Griffin knows plenty of student-athletes have invested countless hours at practice and in games honing their skills. But the Hebron Christian baseball coach believes Channing Tapley and Payton Griffin have worked just as hard or even harder to attract the attention of college coaches.
From football, to boys basketball, to baseball, Tapley and Payton Griffin have lived the life of most small-school high school students, moving from sport to sport with little time to rest or recover between seasons. All the while, both standouts had the dream to play baseball at the next level. In addition to playing the sport at Hebron Christian, Tapley and Griffin have packed their summers with travel baseball games the past few years in an effort to test themselves against some of the best players in the region.
All of that hard work paid off Friday, as Tapley and Griffin signed National Letters of Intent to play baseball at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead and East Central C.C. in Decatur, respectively.
Todd Griffin, who also is Payton’s father, has watched both players mature for the past five years. He has no doubt they both will blossom in college.
“There is no doubt in my mind that when they make it to the next level that nobody is going to outwork them,” Griffin said. “They have taken it upon themselves to get bigger, faster, stronger, and have been in the weight room the past two or three years on their own a minimum of two to three days a week. They are just dedicated and committed to being the best they can be.”
Griffin said that mentality has carried over to the “offseason,” when so many players spend two to three months traveling every weekend to showcase their skills. He said travel ball helped Tapley see better pitching and his son face better hitters, which has prepared them to become college players. He joked the biggest challenge both young men might face is making it to 8 a.m. classes.
Payton Griffin said his time with the Golden Spikes last summer helped him earn a scholarship offer. He said the travel ball team’s first tournament was at East Central C.C. He said he spoke to the East Central C.C. coaches following the event and received an invitation to visit the campus. Griffin, who is 6-foot-3, 192 pounds, said he traveled to East Central C.C. one day in October after football practice at Hebron Christian and threw a bullpen. He was surprised to receive a scholarship offer.
“All the hard works pays off,” said Griffin, who hopes to be a starting pitcher at East Central C.C. “Working out in the offseason and during the summer, throwing in the bullpen, and working at practice has all paid off. It was a lot of relief when I committed and when I signed because I know I can enjoy my senior season and know I don’t have to try to go out and impress anybody.”
Tapley said he remembers having fun as a freshman at a showcase event at Mississippi Delta C.C. He said Mississippi Delta seemed to be at all of his travel ball tournaments with the Mississippi Drillers, a team based out of Meridian, and that he hoped coach Michael Avalon would offer him a scholarship. He said his summer ball coach told him that Mississippi Delta likely would make that offer, which came just after the 2015-16 high school year started.
“It felt good. It felt like all of the hard work and working out paid off and you were getting the chance to play at the next level,” Tapley said.
Tapley said baseball has been the sport he hoped to play in college ever since his freshman year. He said he has traveled throughout the region with the Drillers and Team Mississippi, which is based out of Mathiston, in an effort to build his resume.
Tapley said he hopes to get an opportunity to pitch and to play third base in college. He said his success at the plate in the summer helped him secure a scholarship opportunity.
That being said, Tapley and Griffin also know they will have to work even harder to have the same kind of success in college. Coach Griffin doesn’t feel that will be a problem because he has seen both players rise to each challenge. He believes the chance to play at Mississippi Delta C.C. and East Central C.C. will motivate both young men to prove they belong.
“We know they can play with them because they have proven it the last two summers playing at that level,” Griffin said. “I think these two kids are just as much of an athlete as someone who plays at a 2A or a 3A school (in the Mississippi High School Activities Association).
“It feels good. We have had a lot of kids with athletic ability leave here to go to public schools for sports, so it does feel good. In my mind, it tells others we can do the same thing. We can compete and do the same thing you can do.”
But Griffin said everything goes back to the hard work, dedication, and commitment Tapley and Payton have shown in their high school careers to make their dreams become reality.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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