News from April 5, 2007 issue

Local News
The Crittenden Press (3 pages) PDF
(Selected pages 1A, 8A, 5B)
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Woody is Just Perfect!
Alex Wood is just a sophomore.
Alex Wood is just a sophomore.
Alex Wood is just a sophomore.
That sentence must be running through Rocket baseball coach Denis Hodge’s mind over and over all night long as he rolls in bed imagining what the future of Rocket baseball might look like. Amazingly, Wood is just one of the wonderful young pitchers among perhaps the best set of arms ever wrapped up in a blue Crittenden County baseball uniform.
Alex Wood, known simply as “Woody” around the ball diamond, is the centerpiece in a man sized serving of starting pitchers that includes all sophomores and freshmen – save staff veteran Jacob McMican, who is a junior and spends most of his time behind the plate.
Last weekend, “Woody” did something none of his teammates had ever seen. He threw a perfect game.
In baseball it’s the pinnacle of pitching prowess. It’s like scoring 100 points in a basketball game or comparatively equivalent a hole in one in golf – probably harder.
If it has ever happened before in Crittenden County High baseball history, no one associated with the program today can remember it. It certainly hasn’t happened in the past 30 or so years.
To earn the Perfect Game Badge, one must put out every batter he faces throughout an entire game. In seven innings against Gallatin County, Ill., Saturday, Wood struck out 13 batters and retired the other eight he faced. No runs, no walks, no hits, no errors. It was three-up-and-three-down seven straight times.
“He’s the best pitcher we’ve ever had,” said coach Hodge, himself a Rocket of the 1980s who went on to play collegiate baseball. “It’s hard to throw a perfect game anywhere. It’s hard to throw a perfect game in the bullpen.”
Wood said he knew perfection was within grasp after he got into the fifth inning.
“I didn’t think about it until then. At that point, I pushed it up into the next gear and threw harder. It just worked for me,” he said.
After the game, Wood called his individual pitching coach Kent Wallace of Paducah, himself the owner of a perfect game. He wanted to tell him about his faultless outing. Coincidentally, coach Hodge was on the field the day Wallace threw his perfect game in an American Legion contest in 1986. So was former Rocket assistant Jamie Brown.
“That’s the only other perfect game I have ever seen,” Hodge said.
Wood gets special instruction from Wallace, a former Triple-A pitcher in the Yankees’ organization who runs the Baseball Barn in Paducah.
As for Wood, his potential appears limitless.
“He’s throwing 84 to 85 mph right now and is projected to be throwing 90 by the time he’s a senior,” said Hodge.
Wood has excellent command of three pitches, but the fastball is his bread and butter. He has a sharp slider and a deceptive change up that make him one of the best young pitchers in Kentucky.
“As good as he is, these other guys are right behind him,” Hodge said. “This is the best staff we’ve ever had.”
Behind Wood are starters Ronnie Howton, J.D. Gray, Cody McDonald, Joey Pluskota, Alex Porter and Jacob McMican. Howton is the only southpaw in the rotation. So far this year, the Rockets have played five times and each starter has pitched a complete game.
Porter and McDonald, perhaps the staff’s No. 2 hurler, haven’t even been on the mound yet. McDonald has been getting over a touch of tendinitis in his throwing elbow.
Wood is 2-0 after an opening day three-hit victory over Reidland then perfection against Gallatin County. The staff as a whole has recorded four straight shutouts which is utterly remarkable as well as a school record.
Off to a 5-0 start with a host of underclassmen playing everyday positions, Hodge knows the gold mine he’s watching over.
“We could be pretty good. We could make some noise in the Class A Tournament,” he said knowing full well that a small school like Crittenden won’t get any regional respect until it beats the likes of Henderson, Christian County and Hopkinsville.
What Hodge certainly knows – even though you’d never get him to admit it – is that Wood’s perfect game may only be the beginning. With such a talented young stable of players, a near perfect season might be next.
It could happen this spring, maybe next or even the year after. There’s plenty of time.
Woody’s just a sophomore. Woody’s just a sophomore.?