Rams enjoyed best season in program history
GREENE TWP. — In 1999, football gave South Side High School its most famous sports team. This year, baseball provided the Rams' athletic department with more history-setting milestones.
"Baseball isn't really our background (in sports) out here," baseball coach Chip Hunter said. "But we're trying to change that."
That football squad of 1999 will forever be remembered as the first South Side team to win a WPIAL title and a PIAA championship. The '99 Rams were perfect, 15-0 with wins over Monaca in the WPIAL Class 1A championship game and Southern Columbia in the state final.
At 17-6 this season, South Side's baseball team was hardly perfect. But the Rams did have the best season in the baseball program's history.
They won a game in the state playoffs for the first time.
They advanced to the state championship game for the first time.
They joined that 1999 football squad as the only two South Side teams to ever play for a state championship.
They also won more games than any South Side baseball team before and won more games than any of the 21 baseball teams in The Times' coverage area this season.
For his role in South Side's success, Hunter was chosen as The Times' 2018 Baseball Coach of the Year.
Other coaches under consideration were Kip Richeal, Quigley Catholic's second-year coach who led the Spartans to a 12-0 regular-season record and the first section title in school history, and Bryan Cornell, who led West Allegheny to the PIAA 5A semifinals.
"This really means a lot," Hunter said when told of his Coach of the Year selection. "There are a lot of great coaches out here who are probably more deserving than me. So I am honored and humbled."
His players believe he is more than deserving.
"It's been a great four years having him as our coach," said graduated senior Casey Jones, who pitched and played shortstop. "He's a great coach. He's a great guy. He's always there for all us guys on the team."
When the WPIAL playoffs began, South Side had earned a No. 3 seed in Class 3A after finishing in third place in Section 2 behind Riverside and Avonworth. The Rams were 0-4 against those two section opponents during the regular season, and then they lost to Avonworth in the WPIAL semifinals.
But in the WPIAL third-place consolation game, South Side overcame a late 5-1 deficit and rallied for a 7-5 win over Riverside.
In the PIAA semifinals, the Rams rallied from a 3-1 deficit and beat WPIAL champ, Brownsville, 7-5.
But in the state championship game at Penn State, South Side lost to Lancaster Catholic, 5-1.
"Even though we lost to Riverside and Avonworth twice (each) in the regular season, coach always believed in us," Jones said. "He said 'We're OK. We're right there.' He said he wouldn't trade us for anyone."
Hunter, who just finished his 13th season as South Side's coach, teaches health and physical education at the middle school and high school.
He's a Canon-McMillan graduate who spent two years at West Virginia University. After transferring to Slippery Rock, he played three seasons for the Rockets as a switching-hitting, multi-position player who could play infield, outfield or even pitch.
His proudest moment came in the 2000 NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region playoffs against Millersville.
With the scored tied 2-2 in the top of the ninth inning, Hunter knocked in the go-ahead run with a single. Later, he scored on a sacrifice fly that gave The Rock a 4-2 lead and a berth in the NCAA Division II World Series.
"Definitely the biggest hit of my life," Hunter told reporters after the game that was played at Slippery Rock's Wally Rose Field. "We're going to the World Series."
Hunter was back at Slippery Rock a few weeks ago for South Side's first-round game in the state playoffs. Playing on Jack Critchfield Park, which opened in 2002, the Rams routed Greenville, 17-3, for the programs' first-ever win in the PIAA tournament.
Watching that day from the stands was Jeff Messer, who was Hunter's coach when he played at Slippery Rock.
"That was a special moment ... for our team and for me personally," Hunter said.
All in all, 2018 was a special season for the Rams and their coach.