The road tends to run through Mobile, and that's exactly what the Wetumpka baseball team is set to find out.
Wetumpka heads into the first round of the AHSAA Class 6A baseball playoffs as the No. 2 seed in its area with a matchup against Class 6A Area 1 winner Saraland this Friday.
The Spartans sit at 20-11 on the year with a perfect 7-0 area record under their belt. Despite a rough stretch in the middle of the season where they dropped five consecutive games. The Spartans are currently on a six-game win streak, scoring 10 or more runs in all six.
Wetumpka coach Russ Brooks has been able to do some scouting as to what to expect this week but wants to put more emphasis on what the team can do better heading into the playoffs.
“I think right now for us we have an idea of what we're getting into, but at the same time, we've got to take care of ourselves,” Brooks said. “We got to kind of clean the game up. A lot of people think (Class) 6A baseball is probably the hardest bracket to get through because it's so deep. So I think the kids know what's up on Friday. I mean, you have to go through Mobile a lot of times, and that's where we are.”
Brooks is looking for a mild adjustment to their mindset heading into the playoffs, to play more freely, but the main focus will be on the fundamentals.
“The biggest thing is just being able to play free and just loosen up,” Brooks said. “Because that's kind of been the trend in the past, 14 games or possibly all year, when things go bad, we just can't seem to stop the bleeding. But we're just going to try to come out here tomorrow and do some (fundamentals), go through some team defensive stuff, hit the baseball around, catch it, throw it, and see if we can just loosen up.”
Wetumpka knows it can’t afford to get in a shootout with Saraland, and will need its defense and pitching staff to step up if it hopes to walk out victorious. Of course, Brooks wants to have quality at-bats but will be harping defense heading into this Friday.
“At the end of the day, when you get to the playoffs, you have to pitch the baseball, and you got to catch them,” Brooks said. “If you have to bang out a bunch of runs and play off the baseball, you're going to get beat. That's just the way it is. So for us, it's probably pitching and defense; score when you can score maybe two-out hits that we couldn't get against Stanhope.”
The playoff game starts this Friday at Saraland with the first game set for 4:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., if needed the two will play at 1 p.m. Saturday.
