This is the second in a series of posts on the 2016 Class M state champion Wolcott baseball team. Stay tuned for more posts in the coming days.
The turning point in Tary Scott’s baseball life came in his sophomore year of high school.
Scott was a budding player on the diamond at David Crockett High School in Jonesborough, Tenn., but he didn’t have a good attitude.
“You can hit the sh– out of the ball, but no one will want you because of your attitude,” Scott said Miller told him.
Scott said he started listening from that point on, and it has had an effect on him since.
Fast forward to Wolcott High School baseball’s 2016 Class M state championship season. Scott was the team’s head coach, but he stayed in the dugout or just outside of it. Dom Angiolillo coached third base, Tim Jackson — better known as “The Mayor” — does the job at first base. There’s also Ed Belval and Charlie Guerrera.
“We all get along good, and the kids see that,” Scott said. “We’re all family here.”
Jackson, a first-year volunteer coach, calls the pitches, and he throws batting practice, a lot of it. Scott said Jackson will throw 40-50 balls to each player. Jackson is also the speech giver on the team.
“When I would see the kids and they came off the bus ready to go, I said to myself ‘Mr.
Jackson must have given a good speech,'” Scott said.
Scott respects all of his coaches, and he values their opinions.
“These guys know baseball, so why would we butt heads?” Scott said.
Scott said he doesn’t dictate. Instead, he let his coaches do what they have to do.
“We were all on the same page,” Scott said.
The coaching staff is a team, and that attitude trickled down to the players on the 2016 Wolcott squad. Players didn’t talk back to their coaches. They just went out and did their jobs.
That’s another part of what Scott and his coaches instilled in this team, and past teams. You have to earn what you get.
“My high school coach was like a father to me,” Scott said. “He told me to keep plugging away.”
Scott goes for that same approach with his players, and it worked to the tune of a state title this season.
“They knew what it would take,” Scott said. “They knew that nothing is given to you in life.”
Like their coach, the players listened, and the result was the most successful season in Wolcott baseball history.
