Written By Christian Bateman
Bear Grass — Game 1 was one of the most interesting games in Eastern NC to watch as the late innings unfolded. Bear Grass stayed true to its home-field advantage, tacking on a five-spot late in the game to take a 1-0 series lead and move to just nine innings away from its first-ever baseball state championship appearance.
Brayden Perry cracked the game wide open and earned Player of the Game honors, crushing the baseball with five RBIs as the Bears devoured East Columbus ace Gage Simmons. The Bear Grass pitching staff stayed under the pitch count, leaving its full arsenal available for the remainder of the series.
Many people look down on 1A baseball in terms of quality, but let’s be honest — nobody hates an awesome Cinderella story of boys with heart getting it done.
A powerful group of underclassmen, this is the tale of a small school filled with kids who would die for Bear Grass, a team with a fervent passion and desire to make Bear Grass baseball a mainstay in the big dance.
As for Bear Grass, the 1A 2-seed is bringing the buzz all the way to Lake Waccamaw Thursday night.
East Columbus made things interesting, capitalizing on infield errors to spark life into the Gators dugout.
Bear Grass baseball never flinched.
Terry Perry has been called the GOAT by several coaches across Eastern NC, and Thursday night may have cemented that title forever in the rural baseball community.
Coby Beck was the silencer in the closer role, absolutely firing up the tailgaters by recording the final six outs — all via strikeout — over the last two innings.
The chemistry of this Bear Grass team has been evident for several years, but the charter bus ride to East Columbus and back could become the ultimate fairy tale for this group of young men.
Yet with seven more innings of Bear Grass baseball remaining, the boys from Bear Grass have a chance to immediately start a fresh page in program history and send a jolt through the stands at the Burlington complex.