--- advertisement ---

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Chipola Ready for State

By DUSTIN KENT
Floridan Sports Editor

Chipola begins its quest for consecutive state and national championships Friday in Winter Haven, as the Indians begin first-round play in the FCCAA state tournament.

The Indians, who won the state and national titles last season, take on Seminole, the Mid-Florida Conference champion, at 12 p.m., local time.
Chipola left for Winter Haven by bus Wednesday.

When the team returns to Marianna, the Indians hope they’ll do so with more season to play.

“I think the key for us is to go down there and just play our game, play with passion and do the little things well that make you win ballgames,” Chipola coach Jeff Johnson said Wednesday.

“The thing I’ve learned and this is my ninth time (in the state tournament) in 12 years (as Chipola coach) is that the most-talented team doesn’t win. It’s the team that plays together and does all of the little things.

“It’s more about your will to win than about your talent level because it is such a bear of a tournament.”

If Chipola wins Friday, it will take on the winner of St. Petersburg and Broward Saturday at 3 p.m., with a loss putting Chipola in the loser’s bracket for a 9 a.m., local start Saturday against the loser of St. Petersburg and Broward.

The Indians, who finished second in the Panhandle Conference behind Pensacola, open with a Seminole team that Johnson said he wasn’t terribly familiar with.

“I know that they’re consistently one of better teams in the Mid-Florida Conference and they won that league this year, so they’re obviously pretty good,” the coach said. “We scouted them once, but we don’t know a ton about them, so we’re going in a little bit blind.

“We’ll see how we match up, but the big thing for us is that we have to worry about ourselves more than anybody else. This tournament depends on how you play more than anything else.”

The Indians were playing arguably the best ball in the Panhandle Conference at the end of the season, winning six of their last seven league games, the only loss coming in the season finale after Chipola had been eliminated from first-place contention.

“I feel like we were playing as good as we had played, especially offensively, in the last two-and-a-half weeks of the conference season,” Johnson said.
“We had gotten everybody back healthy with our position players. We really weren’t able to get our whole team together until the latter part of the conference season and I think that made a big difference.”

However, Chipola played its last meaningful game three weeks ago with only one pre-tourney game since, an 8-4 win over Central Alabama April 26, meaning the Indians will have to re-discover the moment they had closing the season.

“You have to take it for what it is,” Johnson said. “We can complain all we want, but it really doesn’t make a difference. Having so many days off has not been a good thing, but the silver lining is that it gave Ryan Chaffee a chance to get healthy, Drew Parker a chance to take some time off and get rest, so I feel like it’s a good thing for us to get our pitching staff back healthy and ready to go.

“It has just been a long run having to practice so much without a game. It’s tough trying to keep the players motivated and working.”

The break didn’t phase Chipola last year when the Indians gave Johnson his first state title in eight trips to the tournament.

Chipola then went on to win the school’s first-ever national championship.

Johnson said that last year’s experience helps, but that there are no special secrets gained from winning championships.

“I don’t think we know anymore about how to win it this year than we did last year,” the coach said. “Just because you won it last year, it doesn’t really mean anything for us.

“The only thing it did was just get instant confidence from the kids who know that we have won it, that know what we’re doing. When you lose it a few times, it’s added pressure. Once win it, that helps with the confidence of the players. Going in knowing you can win is a big thing.”

Johnson does acknowledge that he has learned a lot over the years about how to prepare for the postseason.

“The big thing I’ve learned over the years is that we’ve probably overdone it with practice down there, with too much pre-game stuff, too much batting practice,” the coach said. “You’ve just got to let it play out. We’re not going to wear ourselves out on the field before the tournament.

“In the past, I think I’ve been a little carried away with being prepared that I might have overworked them over the years. It’s something you learn with experience. There’s a line there you have to watch for.”

Chipola will send Matt Jackson to the mound Friday with Chaffee scheduled to go Saturday.

Jackson went 8-0 on the season with a 2.25 Earned Run Average.

“He has been our most consistent guy had all year,” Johnson said of Jackson. “He’s a strike-thrower, a great competitor, a great worker and he deserves to start the first game. He’s outpitched everyone this year, so he’s earned it.”

All Chipola state tournament games will be broadcast on WJAQ-100.9 FM, and are available online at http://www.chipola.edu. 

Posted by on 05/07 at 09:41 PM
------------------------

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: