I ventured over on Wednesday and Thursday to JetBlue Park, the spring home of the Boston Redsox, to catch some of the Florida State Baseball Championships and I walked away impressed with the level of talent that was displayed in the tournament.

My visit was a bit biased as well, as I was very anxious to finally see the Trinity Catholic Celtics’ starting first baseman, Dash Winningham, who caught my attention back in December when he had a private workout for the Mets and was given a chance to bat with Daniel Murphy.  I needed to see for myself if the hype around this young man was fully inline with what I had heard and read.

On Wednesday, the rains came pouring down during game time and pushed the semi-final game between the Celtics and local High School, Bishop Verot, back to an 11:00 pm start. I figured I could stay for a while to watch Winningham play, but was confident that I didn’t have the energy to stay that much longer.

From the first pitch and throughout the game, it was just pure drama, with each pitch having the fans on the edge of their seats. In the bottom of the first inning, as Winningham made his way into the batters box, you could see the confidence on his face and the desire to do something special early on. My obvious conclusion was that this young man is mature beyond his years. 

Dash Winningham unleashes a Bomb over the right field fence.

After two questionable strike calls by the umpire, Winningham unleashed an explosive swing of the bat, that caught the pitchers fastball dead on and sent the ball soaring through the night sky and way over the right fielders head and into the Redsox Bullpen, what must have been at least 415 feet away. 

It was a sound that quieted the whole ball park, myself included, and I looked on in amazement not only with how hard he hit the ball, but how far it actually traveled. When the ball finally landed, the Celtics fans erupted as the opposing team faithful were left in shock. Actually even though in high school baseball they hit with aluminum bats, Winningham did share with me that he also hit a home run with a wooden bat into the Citi Field bullpen. “It was an invite tournament with the top eight travel teams in the country,” says the power hitting first baseman.

After a few more innings and the Celtics up 2-0, I felt that they had this game in the bag, especially with their senior starter and University of Miami signee, Jesse Lapore throwing strikes and mowing down the hitters, so I decided to call it a night and felt it was okay to head home. I wished Winningham’s parents good luck for their son and I would be back on Thursday night to watch them try and win it all. I was confident that the team could pull it out, and have the chance Thursday night to win the title, but just didn’t think it would take the play of the year.

With two outs in the last inning and the Celtics up 2-1, and a runner on second base, Bishop Verot’s batter hit a drive into the right center field gap and Celtics right fielder Sam Atwell, who will be attending college in the fall at Florida Southern as a pitcher, started to chase after the ball and decided to throw himself into a full length dive towards the ball and when he landed, he miraculously secured the ball into his glove and it sealed the victory for his team. Evidently, “The Catch” made Sports Center’s Top 10 list at #2. When I found that out, I was not happy that I left the game early and wish I could have stuck it out. 

I asked Atwell, what was going through his mind once the ball was sailing into the outfield, “I knew once that ball was hit, my only choice was to catch it, especially with the game was on the line. And once that ball hit my glove I knew I had it.” Atwell continues, “I was so happy and it was one of the greatest feelings seeing my whole team storming the field out to me.”

Sam Atwell makes an amazing grab to end the game.

Game two on Thursday night also started late, (9:05 pm) due to a rain delay, but I was determined to stay to watch the Celtic’s battle through the night with the hopes that they would make history and become the first team to bring a title to their school and county.

Sophomore pitcher Brandon Reitz, who was on the mound when Atwell made his amazing catch the previous night, showed true grit as he went the distance to shut down the Pensacola team and helped to seal the title for his teammates.

The game wasn’t without any of its own drama, but an early lead by the Celtics with timely hitting, helped to give Reitz breathing room as he worked his magic and kept the opposing team off the scoreboard for most of the game. But once again it took the Celtics defense to step up and help shut them down with two timely double plays that sealed the victory and sent these young men home as champions.

The whole time that I was watching the game, a game that I truly enjoyed, I couldn’t believe it was just a high school baseball game, especially with all the drama and nail biting innings. I was truly privileged to be able to witness these young men play the game they love and how proud all of their parents were that they made it this far. The support of family, helps the athlete to reach greatness and these young men, had the full support of their school and their city of Ocala.

After the game I was able to congratulate their manager Tommy Bond and a few of the players including Winningham, whom I have come to really admire for the way he carried himself on and off the field. His talent is one worth watching and I am looking forward to him taking the next step in his baseball journey.

Dash Winningham squeezes the ball on the final out to seal the State Title.

The game of baseball is an amazing sport, and at the end of the night I was able to witness high school baseball at it’s best.

(Photo Credit: Cyndi Chambers)