JEROMESVILLE — There’s no cheering in the press box.
That is a cardinal rule of sports journalism.
The job is to report, not cheerlead.
I pride myself in my poker face on game day. When someone asks who I’m rooting for, my response is always the same.
The clock.
I don’t care which team wins or what the final score is so long as the outcome is determined in regulation. Overtimes and extra innings encroach on deadlines.
At least that is what I would lead you to believe.
The truth is, when you have covered high school sports for as long as I have — 20 years this fall — it’s hard not to become invested in local teams. Some more than others.
I graduated from Hillsdale in 1991. My wife graduated from Hillsdale. A lot of our friends graduated from Hillsdale and their children have graduated or will graduate from Hillsdale, too.
So when the Falcons make a run to the state tournament, as the softball team often does, it’s hard not to get swept up in the excitement.
Hillsdale won its 14th regional championship Saturday when Timber Stoops scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. I spent a lot of summer days in my youth playing baseball with Timber’s uncle, then swimming in his parent’s pool afterward.
Hillsdale’s first base coach was the catcher on our high school team. His daughter is Hillsdale’s catcher this spring. I went to school with Sydney and Shelbi Long’s mom and looked up to their dad, who is arguably the best baseball player ever to come out of Hillsdale. I was in Alana Stamen’s parents’ wedding.
Covering a Hillsdale softball game is a lot like a class reunion — family reunion is more like it for our community. And that family takes its softball seriously.
In addition to the six state championships, Hillsdale has been runner-up three times. The Falcons are 15-7 all-time in state tournament games.
There have been just five head coaches in the program’s history. All five have piloted teams to the Final Four.
Hillsdale will play a team in Thursday’s Division IV state semifinals with a tradition to rival its own. Strasburg is making its 15th Final Four appearance and is seeking its eighth state crown. Remarkably, the small-school juggernauts have never met in the state tournament.
Thursday’s first pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Akron’s Firestone Stadium and while I won’t openly cheer for the Falcons from my seat along press row, I’ll be quietly rooting for my alma mater.
I don’t think any apologies are necessary.
