By Scott Nickerson
Elmore Autauga News
Autauga County had some very good baseball teams this season, and there were several good options for the baseball coach of the Year. Billingsley and Autauga County both won area championships in Class 1A. Billingsley made it to the 2
nd
round of the Class 1A playoffs, and Autauga County advanced to the 3
rd
round of the Class 1A playoffs. Meanwhile, in Class 5A, Marbury also won an area championship and advanced to the 3
rd
round of the Class 5A playoffs.
But the Prattville Christian Academy baseball team might have had the most impressive resume in the county. The Panthers were area champions and finished with a record of 38-5 according to MaxPreps. During Spring Break, PCA participated in the Gulf Coast Class Tournament in Foley, which hosted almost 60 teams from several different states. The Panthers won five games and advanced to the final before losing their first game of the season. For most of the season, the Panthers were ranked #1 in Class 3A. They advanced to the Class 3A semi-finals. The Panthers took eventual state champion Glennwood, led by Auburn signee Mason McCraine, who was also named Class 3A Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year, to three games. It was the only game of the playoffs that Glenwood lost. As a result of the successful season, the Elmore Autauga News has named former PCA Head Baseball Coach Tommy Goodson as Autauga County Baseball Coach of the Year (Goodson retired at the end of the season).
“It was a magical season,” said Goodson. “A season I’ll never forget. We had a lot of firsts this season. We started off the season beating Trinity. We’ve never beat Trinity in PCA history so that was a first. Then we went to the Small-Town Classic in Albertville. We played two defending state champions and won all four games there and won that tournament. We went to Gulf Shores, went 5-0 then lost in the finals to a very good team from Oklahoma.”
All that was before the Panthers even started area play. PCA swept three games against St. James and Alabama Christian Academy and won two of three against Montgomery Academy to clinch the area championship.
In the 1
st
round of the Class 3A Playoffs, pitcher Blake Bowman threw a perfect game against Childersburg. In the 2
nd
round, outfielder Jack Diefenderfer hit a walk-off homerun on the road against Wicksburg to win the series. In the 3
rd
round, the Panthers trailed Lee-Scott in the decisive Game 3 by a score of 5-3 in the 3
rd
inning, but the Panthers staged a comeback to win the game and the series. The Panthers finished the season with a team Earned Run Average below 2, and a team batting average of .350, according to Goodson.
Also, during the season, Goodson won his 400
th
game of his high school baseball career, finishing with a total of 425 victories as head coach.
“There’s so many people I could thank. My family, all the players and coaches that helped through the years,” said Goodson.
Having led to the baseball team deep in the playoffs for three consecutive years, Goodson believes the program is going to continue to be successful under the leadership of new Head Coach, and former major leaguer, Austin Adams.
“Austin Adams is a great guy. Knows baseball better than anyone I know. He’s just a very knowledgeable kid and will do a great job. He helped out a lot. He’s going to do some special things at PCA and I look forward to watching his career. I’m going to be a PCA baseball fan for a long time and I look forward to those guys having another great season.”
