When you get into sports, journalists, writers and analysts all desire to cover good teams. You'd be crazy to not want to cover good teams or athletes.
But there is a saying out there, regardless of the results, that rings very true in my mind.
It's about the journey, not the destination.
And boy, was that ever true during my time around and inside the Shawnee State baseball and softball programs.
I'll rewind a little bit to 2021 — and I promise, I'll get to the heart of this story. It may take a minute.
I was the Sports Information Director at Shawnee State for the first time.
It appeared to be a great time on the outside looking in if you were a Shawnee State fan. Our men's basketball team had just won the 2021 NAIA National Championship. I drove 10 hours to Kansas City, Mo. by myself, stopped at a hotel in Mount Vernon, Ill. at 3:30 in the morning the night before the national semifinals, made it to Municipal Arena an hour before tipoff the next day, stayed two nights in Kansas City including the night Shawnee State won the national title, and then drove the entire 10-hour trip back the day after. I got back just after the celebration on campus at Waller Gymnasium had begun.
It looked like all was well in the world. It was the pinnacle. The little engine that could, did. I got to see so many people that I liked and respected, players, coaches, and support staff who were there in Kansas City, celebrating a national title.
As is said in the sports world, we were all eating. My alma mater won a national championship and I literally saw it take place, front and center. I never doubted the outcomes in the semis or the title game. The most stress I had the whole time I was there was making sure I got to the arena, because I stayed 25 minutes from it and traffic was hectic on I-70 heading into Kansas City. I had the story and what I wanted to say for the national championship piece during the first half of the game. It was a wrap.
I was really happy that day. Everything was good. The game. Everybody's enthusiasm and intensity level. The support for each other. The focus and teamwork on and off of the court. The story I wrote, one I was as confident in as any I had ever written before. And the coverage of the game itself. We all hit a home run that day.
But personally, I was struggling most every other day.
It was a happy day, but looking back on it now, it was a quick comet that lit up a sky full of darkness with no stars.
I had suffered some pretty significant losses in that time. They weren't any more significant than anybody else's losses in the world, but they were significant to me.
Losing three uncles, an aunt, a father-in-law, a coach whom you covered to suicide and two coaches whom you covered, one to cancer and the other to COVID, all whom you are close to, hurt deeply. Those losses were all prior to the calendar year turning over. My wife was hurting badly after the loss of three of those individuals in particular, and understandably so — they were her rocks. Me not being home much due to my job at the time didn't help and I wasn't home enough to help her.
But three particular gut-punches hit me extra hard right before the national tournament.
In January 2021, just as classes were starting back for most college campuses, the devastating news spread that one of the former athletes I had covered at a job back four and five years prior had passed away. The athlete's death was by suicide.
I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. This student-athlete appeared to me to have it all. Great grades. Million-dollar smile. Exceptional personality. Talented enough to do anything. Was a two-sport athlete in college. Particularly good at one sport, good enough that, yes, the athlete was projected at one time to be a draft pick, with a high slot value.
None of that was enough.
When replaying what I could've done differently, I think back to the interviews I had with this athlete. Being direct as I am, I tried to talk about the games that this student-athlete had just finished playing. I never once thought about what this athlete liked to do outside of the game.
Caught any bass fish lately?
Have you gone hunting with your friends?
Those are the questions I should've asked to break that ice, and didn't. I regret that deeply. This athlete was so cool under pressure during games.
But after games, the athlete really wasn't comfortable with the attention that was placed on the game, because there is always more to life than sports.
I love it, for sure. It's a big part of my identity, who I am — even when I haven't wanted it to be at times in my life.
But sports are meant to teach you how to handle every day tasks and how to get through every day. They aren't meant to be all you think about all the time. I feel like I was certainly a part of that problem. For the athlete, it's like, the game's over, I did my job, now more?
I didn't truly step back to think about what asking him the above questions would mean to him, or how that could've eased his pressure immensely.
It's not meant to be a bad thing to ask questions about a game or particular situations. It's our job, and it's meant to be the best thing. But I can see how the questions, particularly for a guy who was as wired and as good as this athlete was, would get tiring.
His death knocked a lot of the fire out of me for doing this back at that time.
I ended up losing my high school coach and a family member within the next month-and-a-half. Should've spent more time with both of them. I didn't. More guilt.
By the time we get to the national tournament, I'm exhausted. Not physically, but mentally, because I haven't even been able to properly process the losses over the couple of years prior, let alone 2021.
Not a good idea. Things fester. It gets more difficult to deal with if you don't take a step back.
So I did. There were too many demands, too many angry people at work every day, and not enough time to focus on the things I needed to focus on, which was getting my life in order.
But within six months, I was back writing again — thanks to Debbie Allard.
If you don't know Debbie, she's one of the sweetest people out there. She and Michelle Sparks are great people to be around. But Debbie, in particular, is a person who has sacrificed so much for so many and has left a legacy to be proud of. It was because of her that I got to know both Bill Shope and Mistie Spicer — RIP Mistie — better, and developed great relationships with them as well as Michelle.
I started writing for Debbie. Both Debbie and Michelle wanted me to write sports in addition to news for them. I agreed. In my mind, however, I wanted nothing to do with sports anymore. It hurt me too much to get back involved with it.
But because of Debbie, I didn't debate them wanting me to cover sports or news.
Things go really well as a result.
Then matters really start developing.
Shawnee State reaches out again. There's been a leadership change in athletics. I choose to reapply for the Sports Information Director job that I once had and get it.
I have Debbie, and Gerald Cadogan and the entire staff at Shawnee State to thank for that.
Because this is where I meet more people that would change my life for the better.
I enjoyed covering every sport at Shawnee State. Everybody may not believe that, but I did. There were certain sports that got on my nerves more than others, because they may have not always understood what went into my job as much as others did.
But let me tell you, from the moment I got to the office and began doing the job for a second time, I knew we had something special with our baseball and softball programs.
We may not have had Hall of Fame level talent across the board in both sports, but from the leadership in place from the head coach positions to the players' mindsets in both sports, I knew things were going to turn around in a hurry.
That, however, was the least of my thoughts.
Throughout my time being there, I never had one incident that was troubling with the baseball and softball programs at Shawnee State. They were exceptionally respectful and supportive to everybody in my dealings with them, and they genuinely seemed like they enjoyed playing alongside one another.
The softball program was the first to enjoy success.
People ask me, 'What is your favorite memory in sports?' or 'What is your favorite team to cover?' Before coming back to SSU for the second time, I would've said either the 2016 East Carter (Ky.) softball team or the 2021 Shawnee State National Championship winning team.
The 2024 softball team that we had at Shawnee State, with all due respect to those two squads, blows those two squads away.
It's not that those teams did anything wrong. It's just how special it was to see a program that had really been hurting for a long while break through in such amazing ways.
Prior to the season starting, the softball program was picked to finish fifth in the River States Conference's East Division. The only team Shawnee State was picked to finish ahead of was Alice Lloyd.
There wasn't a heavy crop of recruits coming in either. There were two good recruits from California that were coming in, but for most people on the outside, expectations were not high.
Of course, that can be deflating to a team's confidence. Or it can motivate a team.
Boy, did it motivate this group.
Removing all doubt from the outset, the Shawnee State softball program goes 21-3 over its first 24 games. Seven games were won by mercy rule during that stretch.
After dropping three of four in a slight skid, the team rebounds and wins 10 out of 12 games during that stretch.
That puts Shawnee State at 32-8 up to April 27. We're up on Rio Grande by a game in the River States Conference Standings with two games to play entering the final day of the regular season. Just one win gives the program its first conference title of any kind in 14 years.
It's an exceptional game. Up 2-0 heading into the sixth, Rio Grande comes back to send it to extra innings, then takes the lead in the eighth inning.
Our two four-year players came up big in that game. They may be names you recognize.
With two out and nobody on in the eighth inning, Cassie Berry singled. Then our standout freshman from California, Sierra Dunnagan, also singled, moving Berry to third. A wild pitch then allows Berry to score.
Tie game, 3-3, after eight innings.
The score is the same in the ninth inning. Brittani Wolfenbarker reaches on a leadoff single as the team's nine-hole hitter. She gets moved over to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Jenna Christopher. Berry barrels one up right back up the middle. Wolfenbarker sprints around for the game-winning run.
Ballgame. Shawnee State wins the game, and the east division title in nine innings over Rio Grande.
Just can't script it any better than that.
But it gets better.
Two more walkoffs follow that in the following week's River States Conference Tournament. Berry drives in Wolfenbarker again to beat Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, and slap hitter and leadoff dynamo Jenna Christopher executes a suicide squeeze perfectly to walk it off against Midway and send Shawnee State to the River States Conference Championship Game.
Waiting on the other side is Rio Grande.
They come back this time and win both games, but not before Shawnee State loads the bases with the go-ahead run in scoring position in the second contest.
It was a sad ending to an otherwise great season. But winning 36 games or the walkoffs, while memorable, isn't what I'll remember most about that season.
I'll remember the great conversations I typically had with Lauren Spears about school and life, or seeing Mack Bailey's infectious energy light the team up. I'll remember Coach Bradshaw giving me the lineup before the River States Conference Tournament, saying, 'The winning lineup,' to me. I will remember teammates like Mack, Hailee Bay and Andi Webb cheering on their teammates knowing that they weren't going to get a great deal of playing time, but doing it anyway because they enjoyed being a part of the team that much. I will remember them along with the baseball team chowing down on food from Sonora's. That team had so much heart, cared so much for each other, and as a result overachieved beyond all expectations and set a new standard for Shawnee State softball.
Never have I been more proud of a single sports team. They set a new culture, a new template for what success looks like from a softball standpoint at Shawnee State.
The Shawnee State baseball team was doing much the same.
In Year 1, Rob Ehlers turned a team that had won just eight games into a team that won 26 and scored wins over two nationally ranked teams in the process that season. He worked tirelessly.
The second year was even better. Guys like Diego Mendoza, Mason Reid, Jace Parnin and Nolan Tressler were all great guys to talk to and cut up with. I remember having great conversations with both Jace and Nolan.
The same goes with the pitching staff, which included guys like Malik Diack, Evan Hood and Carson Wireman, guys who I think a lot of also, and pitching coach Drew Lowe. I also took well to hitting coach Steven Krebbs, Adam Kowalski and Dylan Driskill.
Then, there were guys who took on unselfish roles for the team, like Nolan Austin, who was unfortunately not eligible to play in 2025 but still came to everything and never complained when he could've left school, Trevor Fike, who is from the West Side and grew so much outside of the game of baseball after stepping away from it and continues to grow, and, in particular, Hayden Blankenship. Hayden is awesome. He's a yes sir, no ma'am guy, a throwback in terms of manners but a guy who doesn't care to do white-collar or blue-collar work, whatever it takes to win.
This year, the baseball program added Jack Amis, and that only elevated the team's energy. I don't think there's a single person on campus who thinks ill of Jack. He is a guy that just has endless, boundless energy. He's going to be great at anything he does because his enthusiasm is so contagious.
The result of all that hard work behind the scenes was a 34-win team that finished third in the NAIA Opening Round, just a couple of wins away from a World Series appearance.
It was sad not being around for it on the inside, but as I was leaving and in the days, weeks and months that followed, I knew it was the right decision.
Where I am at is where I am supposed to be, and the mission had been completed and both programs, due to work both inside the athletic department as well as on the field, were successful. We're all in great situations. I'm blessed for the experience that I had at Shawnee State, and especially now as I work for the Portsmouth Daily Times as part of HD Media. The leadership team is absolutely incredible here and this past high school season was the most fun I've had in 10 years, thanks to guys like Zack Klemme, Richie Ray, Jeff Rider, Phil Perry, and Doug Reynolds among many others, all of whom have been supportive in multiple ways. The student-athletes I cover and get to interact with are just a joy, and I'm so thankful to have been reacquainted with them as I have.
Yes, both teams won a lot of games over the past three seasons and experienced new highs under Coach Bradshaw and Coach Ehlers.
That includes the most wins for the softball program in 25 years, three walkoff wins in six days for the softball program in 2024 en route to the conference title, two winning campaigns of 35 wins or more for softball, the most runs scored in a single day against a conference opponent in program history in baseball, the most runs scored in a single game against any opponent in program history in baseball, the longest winning streak (12) in program history in baseball, followed by an 11-game winning streak the next year, and a lifetime of memories.
But what I'll remember most are the people I met, the great times I had with them, and the things that they taught me, the most important of which is turning that next play mentality into a next day mentality after sports is over with or done for the day.
Things are changing drastically, not only in sports, but in life.
Between AI, data centers popping up everywhere, the constant changes in collegiate athletics regarding governance and player eligibility and much, much more in our society, worrying about what comes in the next minute or hour will only paralyze one's growth. It is inevitable that things will change. That doesn't mean you have to change your principles, but you do have to grow and keep moving forward.
This past May, the softball team at Shawnee State wanted me to come up to the River States Conference Tournament. It was an easy yes. I was going to cover them regardless.
As we left off for the RSC Tournament and I walked in front of the vans that the players and coaches were riding in, they all honked in unison and yelled my name. I bowed and mouthed 'Thank you,' to them.
A couple rounding the corner with me said, 'Man, you're really popular! Those kids adore you! What do you do for them?'
I said, 'They're just great kids and great people,' and I did tell them a little bit about what my occupation was once upon a time.
But that's what the Shawnee State softball and Shawnee State baseball team members are — great people with great kids playing for them. What I did was what any person in my field would do. I'm just thankful to have served the best set of teams full of promising people who realized their potential — along with the coaches that helped them do just that — in the entire country. Bar none.
Both programs and the people in them changed my life, the way I thought and how I process things, and have made me a better person because of my experiences with them. For that, I am forever grateful.
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