User:Patrugb

BY PAT DORWIN

Some of us have "double dates" we remember vividly.

No, not the the first trip to an "R" rated movie with another couple or a wild college party.

Consider this double date more lke being born on Christmas Day - double the presents, double the fun.

May 26th is one of those "double dates" for me.

On that date in 1982, Farragut High School in Knoxville, Tenn., captured its initial state championship and I was fortunate enough to be on the team.

On May 26th, 2006, my daughter Addie Grace was born.

That's definitely two reasons to celebrate the "double date" of May 26th.

In 1982, our Admirals team came into the best-of-three championship with a 24-4 record against an undefeated Memphis Christian Brothers High School team that had won 25 straight. We had home field advantage, playing at the University of Tennessee's Lower Hudson Field.

We held on to win the first gane of the opening doubleheader behind our ace pitcher Jeff Glover, who ran his record to 15-1 with the win. CBHS countered with its ace, Jay Rogers, in the second game and dealt us a 7-1 defeat, setting up a winner-take-all matchup the next day.

Glover had hurled a complete game in our win, then pitched three more innings in the second game to use up his alloted 10 innings pitched for the state finals. His 15 wins are the second-most ever in a season according to the record site at tbca.org.

Our relief ace, Mike Jordan, had been roughed up a tad in the second game, although his 14 saves on the season are listed at tbca.org as the single-season record. We're still waiting to have his 23 career saves listed as a state career record as well, and it may be even higher as he may have had more saves his freshman and sophomore seasons on the varsity to go with his nine documented saves in 1981.

Obviously,we were a team built on pitching and defense - plus we were a team that hated to lose, an underrated factor in some championship teams, no matter the sport or level of play.

We had our No. 2 pitcher, Greg Scwhartz, on the mound for the deciding game. CBHS countered with senior southpaw Denver Dahlke (5-0), although neither hurler had seen much postseason action.

I played leftfield and hit leadoff - my job was to get on base. Batting left-handed, I grounded sharply to the CBHS shortstop to lead off our half of the first inning. My foot was just coming down on first base when I heard the throw hit the first baseman's mitt.

I was out - but the umpire called me safe. I knew right then and there it was over - we would persevere and become Farragut's first state baseball champion and the Knoxville Interscholastic League's first title holder since Central High School nine years earlier.

We would score three runs that first inning and hold on for a 4-3 and the title. We avenged all five of our losses that season and won a number of elimination games in the playoffs.

I remember it vividly - and everyday Addie Grace reminds me of the date.