For Loganville baseball players, their greatest risk for injury isn’t from a fastball to the rib cage on an errant pitch or a bad hop to the face on a ground ball.
Rather, they’re much more likely to endure a serious injury by being crushed below a sea of humanity.
I’m happy to report everyone emerge unscathed after such an incident Saturday night at Coolray Field, home of the Atlanta Braves AAA affiliate in Lawrenceville.
It was there the Red Devils swept a double header from McIntosh to earn their seventh state championship.
As is their custom, the team celebrated with a dogpile in the middle of the infield. I pity the poor teammate who ends up on the bottom of the bedlam. In this case, it was Sherman Johnson.
The swift-moving, slick-fielding, hard-throwing second baseman had been called on to close out the second game of the twin bill and, with it, a state title.
Afforded a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh, he quickly faltered, giving up a lead-off single, followed by a walk and another single, which cut the margin to a single run.
An intentional walk loaded the bases with no outs. At this point, you’re just hoping the Red Devils can keep the game tied and send it to extra innings.
Johnson had other plans. He struck out the next two hitters, overpowering them with his sizzling fastball, before coaxing a fly ball out of the next batter for the final out.
At that point, he stood alone alone on the mound, his arms raised in victory, awaiting the inevitable tidal wave.
His catcher, Joe Johnson, arrived first, taking him down like a game-saving tackle. There followed, in no particular order, first baseman Davis Roesler, third baseman Tucker Segars,
second baseman Layne Ayers, and shortstop Jaylen Jones, who obviously needs some practice in the art of postgame celebration, having leaped and overshot the entire pile.
The outfielders arrived at the about the same time as the bench players.
The earliest documented occurrence of the dogpile dates back to 1963, when Los Angeles Dodgers players celebrated winning the World Series. It quickly caught on and spread to the college and prep ranks.
There are numerous reports of injuries, from broken noses and bones to temporary asphixia.
Fortunately, when the players clamored to their feet, Johnson emerged, a little wobbly but unscathed. He then took a deep breathe, probably his first since that fateful final frame began, and exhaled.
It was a thrilling conclusion to yet another championship season.
You’d have thought it would get old by now. Certainly, Loganville not being the last team standing at season’s end would be a bigger story than it maintaining its dominance of the sport.
But seeing that mass of red and white stacked high in the middle of an infield never ceases to excite.
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