PEARL — Before the current campaign commenced, defending Class 1A state champion Resurrection dedicated the season to former head coach Lee Tingle, who passed away suddenly in December.
The Eagles and Tingle’s nephew and son couldn’t have made their former mentor any more proud Thursday afternoon.
Resurrection erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fifth frame here at Trustmark Park to overcome a 1-0 deficit and take a 4-1 win and secure the first-ever back-to-back state titles in any team sport in the history of the school.
Eagle starting pitcher Cole Tingle after giving up a single run in the top of the first, then settled in and shut down East Union the rest of the way to pick up the win and send RCS nation into a jubilant celebration for the second consecutive season. Tingle is the late coach’s nephew.
“These players have done everything we’ve asked from them all year long and they deserve this” Aron Frederic, who took the helm of the RCS program after his friend Tingle passed away, said. “I’m just so excited and proud of our seniors that they get to walk off this field one more time as state champions.”
West Union got off to a good start in its first at-bat, as Greer Manning plated Cole Willard on a one-out RBI-sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
Willard, also the starting pitcher for WUHS, then held RCS scoreless through the first four frames before things changed in the eventful fifth frame.
Resurrection sent seven batters to the plate in the four-run uprising. Walker Frederic’s RBI-single put RCS on the scoreboard and broke up Willard’s shutout. Frederic is the son of first-year RCS head coach Aron Frederic. Justin San Miguel then singled to center to make it 2-1. Frederic and San Miguel then scored on back-to-back wild pitches to give RCS a 4-1 lead entering the sixth stanza.
With Cole Tingle still solidly in control on the hill, his teammates decided to give him some insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Six of them in fact. And all came with two outs.
Jesus San Miguel started the game-sealing rally with a two-run double between the outfielders in right-center to give Resurrection a 6-1 advantage. Max Askew then drew a bases-loaded RBI-walk to make it 7-1 and chase Willard. Luke Schnoor then added a run when he was hit by a pitch to make it 8-1 and score Trace Tingle, the former head coach’s son.
Cole Tingle then capped the family affair off with a two-run single to result in the final score.
Cole Tingle then trotted out to the mound and set West Union down in order to wrap up the championship.
“I just wanted to throw strikes and let my defense behind me take care of the rest,” Tingle said. “We did it for coach Tingle. we wouldn’t have been there without him.”
In the dominating pitching performance, Tingle allowed just two singles, both in the first inning. He struck out five and walked just one. The lone walk, in the fourth inning, marked the only WUHS base runner to reach after the first frame.
Jesus San Miguel was named the Most Valuable Player of the championship series. He had two hits and drove in two runs Thursday. Tingle also drove in two runs, while Justin San Miguel, Frederic and Carter McCammon also had two hits apiece in the winning nine-hit attack.
Resurrection finished the season at 27-9
Willard took the loss. West Union ended the year at 28-6.
Curtis Rockwell has almost three decades of experience at four different daily newspapers across South Mississippi, specializing in Sports and live music.
