TSSAA Spring Fling 2019: Covington too much for Forrest baseball in Class AA title game
Joseph SpearsMURFREESBORO — The Forrest baseball team knew it had a big hurdle to overcome if it wanted to win the first state title in program history Friday.
Making it to the title game for the first time since 2006, the Rockets would have to overcome Covington's hot bats.
That didn't happen as the Chargers cruised to the Class AA state championship with an 11-1, five-inning win over the Rockets.
"It's been a long week," Forrest coach Bart Joyce said. "This team fought and grinded it out in every game we played in, including this one. This group of guys has worked hard all year long and to be able to play in this game against a great ball team like Covington, I couldn't be prouder of my guys."
"We just got out-hit today," senior Ethan Mealer said. "They're a great hitting ball team and they just beat us in every phase."
This marked the third time in four years that the Rockets made it to the state tournament. While losing seven seniors could hurt them going into next year, the seniors leaving hope that this game will serve as a motivational factor for all of the players returning.
"Hopefully we made it to where these younger guys want to follow in our footsteps," Mealer said. "Hopefully they can make it back to this point and win it one day."
Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com or 731-343-4923. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears7.
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