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At 12:21 a.m. May 19 Vestavia Hills defeated the Central-Phenix City 4-1 in the deciding third game of the AHSAA Class 7A championship series at Jacksonville State University’s Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. Journal photos by Marvin Gentry

By Rubin E. Grant

Ryan Vermillion had envisioned the moment for months: him on the mound, Hudson Walburn behind the plate and a strikeout of the final batter on their future home field to end Vestavia Hills’ 23-year state baseball championship drought.

That’s exactly how it unfolded.

Vermillion struck out Central-Phenix City’s Emory Yohn on his 119th pitch at 12:21 a.m. May 19 as the Rebels defeated the Red Devils 4-1 in the deciding third game of the AHSAA Class 7A championship series at Jacksonville State University’s Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

Both Vermillion, a senior right-hander, and Hudson, a senior catcher, are headed to Jacksonville State to play college baseball.

Hudson raced out to the mound after the strikeout and Vermillion jumped into his arms in a jubilant celebration of Vestavia Hills’ first title since 2000.

“I threw my last pitch and the umpire called strike three,” Vermillion said. “It was a huge relief and then the hugs. It had been my dream since October to have a Jacksonville State pitcher and a Jacksonville State catcher recording the last out of the state championship at Jacksonville State. It’s a moment I’ll never forget.”

Vermillion was masterful in Game 3, firing a one hitter, striking out six and walking two. The only hit he allowed was a one-out single to Central’s Preston Bedford in the second inning. Bedford stole second and eventually scored the Red Devils only run when Vermillion walked Carson Gilley with the bases loaded to give Central a 1-0 lead.”

After that, Vermillion allowed only three more baserunners. He was named the MVP.

“My whole mentally was to stay calm, have fun and try not to think about anything but one pitch at a time, one batter at a time and one inning at time,” Vermillion said. 

Vermillion also pitched the Game 3 clincher in the semifinal series against Thompson and earned a save in Game 2 against the Warriors.

“During the offseason we challenged him to be tougher, to be a competitor, to be a dog,” Vestavia Hills coach Jamie Harris said. “He answered the challenge. He whipped people with his fastball.

“I can’t say enough about how well he pitched. To throw a one-hitter in the state championship game, that’s legendary.”

Ryan Vermillion had envisioned the moment for months: him on the mound, Hudson Walburn behind the plate and a strikeout of the final batter on their future home field to end Vestavia Hills’ 23-year state baseball championship drought. That’s exactly how it unfolded.

Winning Series

Vestavia Hills (34-11) went ahead 2-1 with two runs in the bottom of the second. William Tonsmeire and Will Cox both singled and Grant Downey smacked an RBI single. Cox scored the second run on a Central error.

The Rebels added another run in the fourth when Downey, the Rebels’ No. 9 hitter, delivered another RBI hit.

Vestavia Hills scored its final run in the sixth when Auburn signee Chris Johnston doubled and scored on a single by Samford signee Jackson Harris.

The teams split the first two games of the series by identical 5-4 scores. The Rebels won Game 1 on May 17 when Mason Perrigo was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh of a 4-4 ballgame and scored the winning run on Luke Swanzy’s double.

In Game 2, on May 18, the Rebels rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the top of the seventh to tie the score 4-4, but Central’s Hunter Wimpert’s two-out single in the bottom of the inning drove in Chris Kelly with the winning run.

The second game was delayed by weather for three hours, and Game 3 didn’t begin until just after 10 p.m. It didn’t end until after midnight.

Central (34-11) was the defending Class 7A champion.

“The series was everything I thought it’d be,” coach Harris said. “I knew it would be a dogfight against a good team with college players all over the field, and we had to play good defense, pitch tough and have different guys come through on offense as we had all season.

“We didn’t lose two in a row all season. We had a lot of kids who were mentally tough.”

Vermillion had no doubts the Rebels would take the crown.

“We knew this team was special and we knew we could do it,’’ he said.

Number 10

The state title was the Rebels’ 10th in school history. They won nine Class 6A state titles in a 10-year period from 1991-2000 under legendary coach Sammy Dunn. Jamie Harris, who graduated in 1996, played for Dunn as did assistant coaches Wes Kelley and Ryan Halla.

“It’s tough for me to put it into words what this means,” coach Harris said. “It’s an honor and privilege to be the first former player to be head coach at Vestavia with four or five guys on the staff who also played at Vestavia. It’s not a job for us but a passion.

“We love the Vestavia program and to see it get back to the place I think it belongs is special and the fact that my son Jackson was on the team just makes it that much more special.”