LAURINBURG — The date was Saturday, June 3, 2006. The next day, Scotland High School’s baseball team would win the 4A state championship.
But if you looked at them then, you’d think they’d lose it.
The Fighting Scots loaded up for a bus ride back to their hotel after a 12-0 run-rule loss to South Caldwell in the first game of the championship series on a Saturday afternoon. South Caldwell’s Madison Bumgarner welcomed the Scots to the big stage by holding them scoreless over five innings on the mound and launching two homers at the plate. Shortstop Josh Sheehan dealt another blow to the Scots with a grand slam.
“I remember that bus ride back to the hotel. Everyone was quiet,” former Scotland outfielder Justin Walters said almost 13 years after that day.
Walters’ father Mike donned a Scotland jersey in 1977 when the baseball program won its first title. But after a 13-1 run in Southeastern Conference play and a successful run through the preliminary rounds of the state tournament, the 2006 Scots knew they had some hurdles to clear if they wanted to bring a second baseball trophy to Laurinburg.
The Scots had been taking on these situations as a team well before they became varsity baseball players.
“We’d been playing together since we were 7 or 8 years old,” pitcher Lee Oxendine said.
After playing together for all those years, the Scots knew that they were good enough to bounce back.
“We were always good,” Oxendine said. “We were very good at baseball.”
They were determined to show South Caldwell just how good they were, but they didn’t have much time to do that. Game two was that same night.
Coach Britt: A ‘steady rock’
Tommy Britt’s name is synonymous with Scotland County baseball.
Britt’s coaching prowess made a difference from the moment he arrived at Scotland in the 1980s. The Scots were routinely strong contenders in the Southeastern Conference, and they were routinely primed to compete at the next level.
How’d he do it? Britt’s former players say he preached accountability and made sure his team had the tools they needed to succeed.
Ryan Norton, one of the six all-conference honorees on the 2006 team, said Britt was a reliable mentor who pushed his players to succeed on the field just as much as he supported them outside of baseball.
“He was a steady force,” Norton said. “He was a steady rock, and that was a very useful tool for me.”
“He set the standard so high when it came to being respectful to each other,” said Walters, who was a junior outfielder on the 2006 team. “He expected a lot from you.”
Britt remained a mentor for his players long after they played their last games as Fighting Scots.
“When I went to play in college, he called me and asked how I was doing,” Walters said.
Britt had plenty of opportunities to make those calls. The list of players who went on to play college ball during his tenure is long and full of schools ranging from junior colleges to NCAA Division I programs.
“We had guys who didn’t play every day (at Scotland) but went on to play college ball,” Norton said.
Britt also exhibited steadfast leadership during tough times. And Britt made sure his players were the ones who settled their own disputes.
“He’d say, ‘Y’all figure it out. Y’all are a team. Do what y’all do,’” Norton said.
Britt’s approach worked for numerous years, but 2006 was the jewel of his coaching career. Led by a talented senior class, the Scots won the Southeastern Conference title after fending off Pinecrest, which boasted the league’s player of the year and future major league pitcher Seth Maness.
Scotland sent a handful of players to the all-conference squad in 2006 — Norton, Derrick Lowery, Scott Myers, Nick Liles, Parker Bangs and Chris Patterson all received the honor. Together, they formed part of a battalion fueled by experience, skill and the knowledge that there weren’t many teams capable of standing in its way.
“We didn’t play too many teams that were our caliber,” Oxendine said.
The breakthrough
Over the many years they played together, Scotland’s baseball players faced many athletes who went on to play professional baseball. They weren’t unnerved by the presence of Bumgarner, a left-hander who impressed scouts with his talent on the mound and at the plate.
Bumgarner’s arm helped him earn upwards of $58 million to date with the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He doesn’t currently get paid to swing the bat, but Bumgarner was a tough out when he stepped to the plate in high school. A 2006 report by the national scouting organization Perfect Game reads: “Bumgarner’s best talents are on the mound but he could be a high level college, if not professional, hitting prospect if that was his direction.”
Bumgarner caught some national attention prior to the 2006 playoffs, but also making some noise were North Forsyth’s Dustin Ackley and Addison Johnson. Both players were selected in the 2009 MLB draft, and Ackley now has six professional seasons under his belt.
The Fighting Scots were prepared to potentially face the Vikings of North Forsyth in the championship series. But South Caldwell took two of three games from the Vikings in the semifinals, setting up Scotland’s matchup with Bumgarner and the Spartans.
On the other end of the 4A bracket, Scotland won two of three games semifinal games against Fuquay-Varina to advance to the championship. After being dealt a punch via the run-rule loss in the championship series opener, Scotland got back to its winning ways hours later.
Derrick Lowery took the mound for Scotland in game two and pitched a two-hit shutout as Scotland defeated South Caldwell 1-0. He logged 12 strikeouts.
“He was as close to unhittable as you could be,” Norton said.
Lowery also scored Scotland’s only run of the game. He would eventually be named the series MVP.
Scotland and South Caldwell met in a rubber match the next day. Parker Bangs started on the mound for the Scots.
Scotland’s bats were hot early. The Scots needed four innings to score 10 runs, putting up four in both the third and fourth innings.
South Caldwell rallied late with the help of a three-run homer by Bradley Chavis, but it wasn’t enough. Bangs earned a win, Bumgarner took a loss and Scotland won the state championship with a 10-5 victory.
In the words of Oxendine: “It was a pretty good way to graduate.”
Looking back
Members of the 2006 championship team were quick to point out how much they benefited from their community’s support during their run. Everything from food to gear to fundraising was rarely difficult to organize in Scotland County. They also gave credit to Zachariah McNeill, better known as Dr. Z., Scotland’s athletic trainer since 1969.
Looking back on their accolades, the former Fighting Scots realized that a lot of their success had little to do with talent. They simply knew what their goals were, and they were committed to taking on whatever forms of adversity stood in their way.
“If you don’t have that passion to settle for nothing less than a championship, you won’t get it,” Oxendine said.
“It takes discipline and focus through the highs and lows,” Walters said.
The 2006 baseball team learned a lot about what it takes to be successful, and defeating a future multi-million dollar pitcher in the championship series is a memory they won’t forget.
“I have certainly mentioned it more than one time,” Norton said with a laugh.
