Published: May 18, 2006 12:16 am            

Cougars simply could not lose with Cavenaugh

PEARL — Sometimes in this profession, you really have to scratch and claw for stories.

Someone turns you on to an idea ... you research it; you make a few phone calls; you hover over the keyboard for what seems like forever; and ultimately — it’s like pulling teeth to put something together.

And then, there are stories that practically write themselves.

From the moment I heard Newton County had evened its best-of-three, Class 3A state championship baseball series Monday night, I knew I was driving here to Trustmark Park for the third-and-decisive game Wednesday. I knew, that despite throwing in both of the first two games, County’s Jared Cavenaugh would take the mound. And I knew, without a doubt, that he’d give a performance worthy of this column.

Dang, it feels good to be right.

Cavenaugh, Newton County’s lanky 6-1, 155-pounder who is headed to Southern Miss next season, struck out 11 batters in a complete-game, four-hitter and was 3-for-4 with four RBIs in a 6-4 victory over Water Valley.

In a nutshell, Cavenaugh put the Cougars on his wiry shoulders and carried them to the school’s first state championship in a boys’ team sport.

And I didn’t expect anything less.

As I made my way from the press box to the field, I shook the hand of Jared’s dad, Ricky, who was still so wound up he looked like he’d just spent a couple hundred bucks at the Starbucks next door. I gave a hug to Jared’s mom, Lynn, who was still shaking from uncontrollable tears of joy.

“I can’t even describe ... (Jared) just wanted this so bad for all his guys,” Lynn Cavenaugh said a half-hour later. “And I wanted it so bad for him. That’s why I haven’t been able to stop crying.”

The thing is, if Jared decided today that he wanted to bypass USM in favor of heading to the arctic to learn bobsledding — Ricky would probably be studying up on the sport tonight and Lynn would be there to cheer on her baby.

A little more than 15 years ago, as a teen-aged, outdoors editor of this same newspaper, I went to Chunky to do a feature on 11-year-old Adam Cavenaugh — now the 26-year-old big brother of Jared — his room full of rodeo trophies and his two exceptionally-proud parents.

And I spent most of a decade following the Structural Steel Heartbreakers softball team. Joy Cavenaugh, Jared’s sister and a fast-pitch player at East Central Community College, was one of a host of Newton County products that made the Heartbreakers one of the state’s most feared select teams.

She also won her share of slow-pitch and fast-pitch state championships at Newton County, while Adam — a solid baseball player in his own right — went the rodeo route before eventually joining the National Guard on a full-time basis.

Truth is, Jared Cavenaugh never had a chance to be anything other than a champion.

I hadn’t seen Jared pitch this season, but I knew more than enough to figure he was the man to bring Newton County its first baseball title.

I knew all about his sparkling stats — he wound up 17-1 with two saves and an earned-run average of less than 1.00; averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning. I knew he was a workhorse, and that he’d take the ball today despite throwing nearly 120 pitches in a complete-game, 2-1 loss in nine innings in Game 1 of the series. And I knew that, no matter how bad the situation might have seemed for the Cougars in any game this season — head coach Wyatt Tullos and his bunch felt like they were going to win when turning to Cavenaugh.

“He’s a winner,” Tullos said. “He’s a warrior. I don’t know of anyone who has the competitive spirit that he does.

“We might be down a run or two late and he’d come in and find us a way to win. I don’t know how to explain it ... he just wants the ball. He wants to see that No. 1 (pitcher’s position) beside his name on the lineup card.”

Jared Cavenaugh started at Newton County in the eighth grade and pitched in B-team contests. He took the mound for good as a freshman, and he’ll leave as one of the school‚s most storied athletes.

“At the beginning of this season, he just wanted to take it all and put it on his shoulders,” Lynn Cavenaugh said. “But last night, we told him “If you go out there today and give it your best and give it all you‚ve got ... no matter what happens ... you are a winner.‚”

I don’t think the kid would have had it any other way.

Cavenaugh, unlike 99 percent of high school pitchers these days, doesn’t use a courtesy runner when he gets on base. He legged out an infield hit in the first inning and drilled a line drive to center in the fourth. But it was his second inning double — a bases-loaded, three-run blast that just didn’t get quite high enough to leave the park — that set the tone. (For good measure, Cavenaugh also took third when the Water Valley outfielder missed his cutoff man).

If that weren’t enough, Cavenaugh was simply dominant on the hill. He gave up just the four hits; grumbled to himself after a wild pitch; waved Tullos back to the dugout after getting cut a flip with a line drive — and in dramatic fashion — struck out the side in order in the seventh inning.

“I was determined to go out there in the seventh inning and get them one, two, three,” Cavenaugh said.

With every strike, Ricky Cavenaugh pumped his fist. He paced in an excited/nervous fever during the entire game in the breezeway at Trustmark Park; high-fived anyone within 20 feet each time a big play was made; and even called a few pitches.

“Every time (Jared) makes a pitch, (Ricky’s) right there with him,” Lynn Cavenaugh said.

And on this day — when his father said 100 pitches would have probably been too many — Jared made 98 of them, 66 of them for strikes.”

“It was kinda questionable whether I‚d even pitch today,” Jared Cavenaugh said. “But my folks, they’re going to back me 100 percent no matter what.

“My older brother, when he was in Babe Ruth ... he was about 14 and I was five years old ... I’d go out there with them at practice and my dad would have to try to get me off the field.

“And my sister ... she really laid it to me.”

Technically, I guess Joy owes Jared a favor or two... while she and the Heartbreakers were traveling all over the South, Jared was racing barefooted back and forth from the dugout as the part-time bat boy.

“That seems like a lifetime ago,” Lynn Cavenaugh said. “But (Joy) cuts him no slack.”

“My brother and sister are great,” Jared said. “We had a field not far from the house and my whole family has always been supportive, no matter what.

“I can’t say enough about my family or my team,” he said. “When we lost (2-1 in nine innings) that first game ...I felt like it was really my fault. I‚m just happy we were able to come back and win these next two. It does feel good right now ... a great, great feeling.”

Jared, that’s the feeling of a champion.

Soak it in.

        

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