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Wednesday, April 27, 2011 The Kings Mountain Herald Page 1B State Champion 1993 KM baseball team to enter (Fourth in a four-part se- ries of the 2011 inductees into the Kings Mountain Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony is Saturday, May 7 at 6 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church. Tickets are $10 each and are avail- able from Hall of Fame committee members). = GARY STEWART Sports Editor From 1989-1993 Coach Bruce Clark’s Kings Moun- tain High baseball team had its most spectacular run in school history. During that five-year pe- riod the Mountaineers com- | piled a 100-30 overall record, won three conference cham- pionships and two state championships. With a differ- ent bounce of the ball here and there, the Mountaineers could have won four state ti- tles because two of his other three teams advanced to the quarter-finals. The championships came in 1989 and 1993. The two teams took entirely different routes to the crowns. The 1989 team featured a crushing home run attack never seen before - or since - at KMHS. The Mountaineers actually finished second ‘in the Southwestern 3A Confer- ence to South Point but caught fire late in the season and rolled to the state title, The team hit 55 home runs, led by slugging first baseman Paul Brannon with a KMHS and what was then a state sin- gle season record of 20. The 1993 team hit only 10 home runs, but it featured a pitching staff and defense as good as any team in the school’s history. Stephen Fisher; now an administrator in Cleveland County Schools, was an All- State pitcher and State Player of the Year. He won 12 straight games his senior sea- son and 24 straight over his final two seasons before los- ing 5-2 to Asheboro in the first game of the best-of-three state championship series at KM’s Lancaster Field. Fisher had a hard fast ball, but more importantly could throw the baseball where he wanted to just about every time. David C. Jenkins, more of a low curve type pitcher who worked spots, compiled a 7-1 record and pitched a master- ful three-hitter in a 2-1 vic- tory in game. two that tied the series at 1-all. The defense was rock solid, and showed it in the state series by time and again turning double plays and in- ‘dividuals making game-sav- ing plays in key situations. Although they didn’t have a superstar at the plate, the Mountaineers had consistent hitters. Five players (state MVP catcher Chris Rider .348, second baseman Mike Smith .338, Fisher .338, right fielder Caja Ormand .333 and sophomore backup catcher/designated hitter Kevin ‘Melton .324) all topped the .300 mark. Several other players like Robert Wingo, TG Goforth, Todd Ware, Rick Marr, Rob- bie Ruff, Johnny Bunch, Damon Putnam, Doran Moore, Sharee Hopper, Benji Ingle, David R. Jenkins, Sheldon Smith, Lewis Nantz and Shane Webb made valu- able contributions. Unsung heroes were never more evident than in the third and deciding game of the state championship. Fisher and Jenkins didn’t have enough rest or innings left to start game three but the Mountaineers got outstand- ing contributions on the mound from sophomore lefty * Robert Wingo, relief pitchers Sharee Hopper and Shane Webb and Fisher, who came on in the fifth inning to save the game in a 9-5 Moun- taineer victory. The Mountaineers (the visiting team) scored five runs in the top of the second to give Wingo the early lead but he became shaky in the bottom of the second when the Blue Comets scored twice. Clark went with Hopper, who gave.-up only one-hit over the next 2 2/3 innings to get the win. When Asheboro cut the score to 6-5 after four innings Clark called on Fisher to put out the fire. KM tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh to win going away. Clark, now head football coach at Boiling Springs, SC, High School; said the ‘93 team played under intense pressure all year long because people all over the state were picking them to win the state championship. The year be- fore the Mountaineers won the SWC and went three rounds in the state playoffs before falling to West Hen- derson. West Henderson was one of the Mountaineers’ victims in the third round of the 1993 state playoffs. They also de- feated Central Davidson, ‘Central Cabarrus and South Point to take the Western Re- gional title, with Fisher get- ting the victory in every game. “It was unique group,” Clark said of the players, 18 of whom returned from the previous season. “They were really close but it was a very diverse group at the same time. There were a lot of dif- ferent personalities. It is amazing what they were able to do. They basically all grew up on the same team. “They were all good ball players but they have also succeeded off the field. When I was coaching at Southern Guilford Damon Putnam was driving an 18-wheeler and stopped in and saw me. We had the hard-nosed blue col- lar type; on the other hand you have guys like Stephen Fisher who is high up in school administration, Michael Smith is in the med- ical field and Todd Ware is a lawyer. “It was such a variety of personalities. All of them could play anywhere you asked them to play. The num- ber one reason for our suc- cess was how they played defense. It the ball was on the ground or a pop fly, they’d get it.” The ability to play many positions paid off for the Mountaineers in the champi- onship game. Shortstop Rick Marr injured his shoulder ~when he dove for a ball be- hind second base and Clark had to move players around, including sending Ware from third to short, Putnam from first to third and putting Benji Ingle in at first. “And, of course, Stephen came in to pitch and saved the game for us,” Clark said. “The unique part was that so many of them could do so many things,” Clark said. “Wingo was going to be our next really good pitcher and would have started more games that year but we had two seniors (Fisher and Jenk- ins) that were such good pitchers. Stephen was unde- feated and had won 24 straight games, which we thought at the time was a state record. Then someone documented that someone years earlier had woh more. “Little David (Jenkins) threw the best game he ever pitched in the second game. He didn’t overpower .any- body, he was just a good solid pitcher. “Fisher pitched about 82 or 83 miles per hour and could put it anywhere he wanted to,” Clark noted; “Jenkins threw about 80 and his curve ball was about 60 and he kept people off bal- ance all the time. “Wingo. pitched a good game in the championship game, and so did Hopper and Shane Webb. We got up early and then Marr got hurt and we had to make some adjust- ments. A lot of different play- ers made some outstanding plays on defense. I remember Chris Rider making a heck of a catch near the dugout to end ~ an Asheboro rally. “Shane Webb could throw the ball 90-plus and was a great kid. Hopper was long and threw it pretty well. We had Wingo and Hopper com- ing back the next year and they would have been our main pitchers, but I left after that season.” Kings Mountain’s outfield time and again came up with the big plays, including the state championship games. Caja Ormand made one catch of a long drive to right field on which he banged into the fence and held on to the ball to end an Asheboro rally. In the seventh inning of game ‘two, the Blue Comets loaded the bases with two outs and Putnam fielded a shot down the first base line and stepped on the bag to save the game. Defensively, the outfield was probably as strong as any in the school’s history. Rob- bie Ruff in left could fly. TG Goforth in center and Or- mand in right started most of two years and didn’t let balls past them. “Caja could hit the ball a long way and had a great arm and great defensive skills,” Clark said. Because: of the vast amount of talent, it “was sometimes hard to get every- body playing time but Clark said the players never com- - plained and understood their roles. “I guess the hardest thing about that year was that we had 18 very good players that would have started anywhere else, but you can only play nine at a time,” he said. “Johnny Bunch was one of my all-time favorites. He was the hardest worker on the team. I told him his sopho- more year as long as I was coaching he’d have a spot on the team. All the kids were good role players. “Benji Ingle, the year I left he went to Holy Cross and played in the band: He called me one Saturday and said he was 10 feet away from Lou Holtz. He got to play in the Notre Dame stadium. He was a great kid. “It was a great bunch of young men,” Clark added. Sports Hall of Fame Kings Mountain’s state championship 1993 baseball team. Front row, left to right, Chris Rider, Caja Ormand, Mike Smith, Kevin Melton, Robert Wingo and Sheldon Smith. Second row, Robbie Ruff, Todd Ware, Doran Moore, TG Goforth, Stephen Fisehr and Rick Marr. Back row, Shane Wehh, Damon Putnam, David R. Jenkins, Benji Ingle, Sharee Hopper, Johnny Bunch, David C. Jenkins and Lewis Nantz. Coaches, not pictured, included Bruce Clark, head coach, and assistants Ronny Funder- burke, Richie Gold, Dean Brannon and Rusty Bumgardner. “We went 100-30 and I would say that was the win- ningest baseball teams that came through Kings Moun- tain. The year before we fin- ished fourth in the state and our number one goal coming in was to win the state cham- pionship.” The Mountaineers fin- ished 23-4 overall, tying the 1989 team (23-7) for the most single season wins in school history. But the 1992 (20-5) And ‘93 teams were the only two baseball teams in school history to win back-to-back conference championships. Clark’s 1990 team finished 20-5 and the ‘91 team was 14-7. Sports this week: Wednesday, April 27 11 am. - High school track, Kings Mountain in Ashbrook Relay Invitational. Friday, April 29 4:30 - High school base- ball, Kings Mountain at Crest (IV/V DH). 6 p.m. - High school soft- - ball, Crest at Kings Moun- tam. Saturday, April 30 1 p.m. - High school soc- cer, Fred T. Foard at Kings Mountain (JV/V DH). Monday, May 2 TBA - High school golf, Western Regional Tourna- ment at Riverbend. 6 p.m. - High school soc- . cer, North Gaston at Kings Mountain (varsity only). Tuesday, May 3 6 p.m. - High school soft- ball, Kings Mountain at North Gaston ui is lini ation asa a Carrier dealer York Road * « Kings Mountain, NG 28086 704-739-1043 www. Seeatingcooling. com ba man EP TE ERS
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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April 27, 2011, edition 1
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