Benton Baseball reflects on district championship; prepares for St. Pius in sectional round

By Calvin Silvers

It’s that special time of the spring season where teams are punching their tickets to sectionals and beyond, as both soccer and baseball are wrapping up their district tournament play.

On Thursday, the Benton Cardinals baseball team was able to bring a district title back to the southside for the first time in nine seasons, after the team lost the Class 4 District 15 title last season by a score of 3-2 to Excelsior Springs.

That loss lingered with the team, as they used it as fuel in offseason workouts. That hard work paved the way to this season’s Class 4 District 16 Championship, where the Cardinals defeated the Savannah Savages, 4-1 to avenge last year’s loss.

“It was a heartbreaker,” senior Garret Ferrell said about last year’s district loss. “We were all determined, everyone was in the weights offseason, grinding day after day to get back here, and I’m just so happy we got to be able to do it.”

Benton’s head coach, Johnny Coy, captured his fair share of district championships, including a state title, back in his playing days as a Cardinal. Now leading the team, Coy was able to lift the championship plaque in a different position, and the experience just meant a tad more.

“As a coach, it means so much more to me. I’ve known a lot of these kids since they were six, seven years old, so I have a really good connection with these kids and I’ve known them for so long,” Coy said. “They wanted this so bad and we had our mind made up that we were going to do everything we could to win this game.”

Not only did the team enter the championship with a 28-3 record, but they never trailed and captured their 18th win in a row, with their last loss coming from the Savages’ hands back in early April.

“Obviously, it was a little motivation. I want to win this championship obviously, but that’s not the goal, jobs not finished,” junior Chris Coy said. “You know, we’re looking for more than that.”

Now with a district title back in the southside for the first time since the 2014-15 season, the team looks ahead to the St. Pius X Warriors in the sectional round. This team has the pitching to cause trouble, as their ace is a Jacksonville State commit.

Benton did beat Pius earlier this year by a score of 9-2, and the underclassmen hope to replicate that, as they don’t want to see their senior teammates hang it up just yet.

“I love my seniors, you know, they pushed us in the weight room, great teammates,” Chris Coy said. “You know, happy we can get the job done for them now, but, you know, we definitely want more than that.”

Despite how the remainder of the 2024 baseball journey ends, that district championship is for anyone who’s thrown on a Cardinal uniform.

“This district title is for those guys as well,” Johnny Coy said. “You know, we weren’t able to win one together when they were here, but they all contributed to this, to this program and this culture that we have at Benton High School, and, you know, this is for everybody, all of them.”