Article by Craig Harris (Gallatin News Examiner)

Sports reporter Craig Harris can be contacted at 575-7138. 

HENDERSONVILLE – The Hendersonville High School baseball team shared high fives on Wednesday evening.

The Commandos also enjoyed Little Hugs.

The Hendersonville players weren't familiar with the Hugs.

Honestly, they weren't familiar with championships either, but that didn't deter the Commandos as they won the District 9-AAA Tournament title with a 2-0 victory over visiting Wilson Central at Drakes Creek Park.

"It's our first step," Hendersonville senior third baseman Connor Fischer said. "It was our first goal from the beginning of the year to get to the region (tournament). We made our first step. Now, it's on from here."

Fischer enjoyed two of those Hugs during the team's postgame celebration.

In fact, he estimated that he had four over the course of the evening.

They weren't hugs of the traditional sort though.

He was drinking Little Hug Fruit Barrels, which are eight-ounce plastic bottles shaped like barrels that are filled with fruit-flavored drink.

"It's the first time we've had them," Fischer said. "They're good. They're juice. They brought in a cooler full. They're things you had as a kid."

Commando head coach Mike Hendrix added, "It's like drinking a popsicle."

Hendrix is familiar with the Hugs. Those drinks have been a staple in the program since the early 1990s, though the tradition has been less consistent in recent seasons.

Hendrix's wife – Helenmary – provides the popular drinks for the players.

"My wife has been doing that forever and ever," Hendrix said. "She got kind of fired up coming to a couple of games last week. She even puts up a top 10 list (in the dugout) of why we should win this game."

However, Hendrix doesn't call the juice Little Hugs. In his program, they've long been known as "Cooter Juice."

The celebratory postgame juice came about more as result of the Hendersonville pitching than its recent trend of hot hitting.

Hendersonville outscored its first three postseason opponents by a combined margin of 31-6, but senior right-hander Kyle Schmitt managed to slow the Commando offense on Wednesday.

"They always play us really well," Fischer said. "Last year, they knocked us out (of the district tournament), and we knew they had been playing well. We had also been swinging well. I didn't know it was going to be as close as it was."

Commando junior Grant Williams pitched the first five innings, limiting the Wildcats to three hits while striking out three hitters. Williams (7-1) was on a pitch count on Wednesday after pitching six innings in the team's tournament opener, a 10-3 victory over Station Camp five days earlier.

The right-hander threw just 58 pitches.

Junior Brandon Fuller came on with a 2-0 lead and tossed the final two innings, earning his second save of the season.

"I was nervous," Fuller said. "This was a huge game for us, more than usual. A couple of players just had to tell me to relax, trust my stuff and to do what I've been doing the whole season."

Fuller gave up a sixth-inning single to junior Cullen Smith and hit senior Tony Pfefferle with a pitch, but the left-hander worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a routine ground ball to senior shortstop Justin Long.

"It's first-pitch strikes," Fuller said. "I have to trust my stuff and trust my defense. I have to let them put the ball in play and let them work.

"We're deep. We have a deep pitching staff. We just have to throw strikes and trust our stuff. Our pitching staff is solid. We have faith in everyone."

Fischer added, "They've kept us in every game, whether we are hitting or not."

Fuller retired the final five hitters he faced, ending the game with a strikeout.

"Fuller has done a great job this year," Hendrix – whose squad captured a 3-1 victory over visiting Wilson Central on March 25 – said. "At the beginning of the season, being a junior, we didn't know what we were going to get out of him. We went to Tullahoma that first week of the season, and he pitched well. He was probably a little nervous when he came in (on Wednesday). In the seventh inning, he relaxed."

Fischer led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to centerfield, moved to second base when the ball was mishandled in the outfield and scored when senior Ben Smith lined a double to leftfield.

Long singled to leftfield with two outs in the fifth inning, stole second base and scored on Fischer's single to centerfield.

Both Fischer and Smith had two hits, accounting for four of Hendersonville's six.

"I feel good up there," Fischer said. "I feel like I'm seeing it fine.

"If I don't get a hit, the next guy will get a hit. There's no pressure on us."

The Wildcats (20-10-1) – the No. 3 seed from the 9-AAA South Division – were the defending tournament champions.

The Commandos (30-11) – the No. 1 seed from the 9-AAA North Division – won their first district title since 2003, when the program finished in a tie for third place in the state. Hendersonville had lost in its last two district championship games (in 2005 and 2010).

"I'm so happy for these guys," Hendrix said. "It's been a while since we've won a district tournament. They have something special.

"We started all of these guys as sophomores. Some of them got some playing time as freshmen. They learned playing the summer before their sophomore year and the summer after. To me, the summer is where they really learn. To get our club ready for the springtime, that's where they go work on their skills. All of (the success) comes back to the preseason, working on fundamentals. We stay after them. We preach, 'do what you can do, and don't try to do what you can't.' All of this has come with hard work."

Fischer added, "We're refusing to lose. We don't want to go out the way we went out last year."

Fischer is one of the team's 10 seniors.

"I'm doing this for them," Fuller said of the senior class. "They've earned it. They deserve it.

"This is huge for us. It's a confidence booster. Now, we go into the region and host it at our place, and the fans can come out. That's big."

Hendersonville faces District 10-AAA Tournament runner-up Clarksville at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Region 5-AAA Tournament semifinal round. The semifinal winners move on to Wednesday's regional championship game and will also earn a spot in one of eight Class AAA sectional games on Friday.

Wilson Central travels to face Rossview on Monday for its Region 5-AAA semifinal. Rossview handed Clarksville a 9-5 loss in Thursday evening's 10-AAA championship game.

Wilson Central 000 000 0 – 0 4 0

Hendersonville 100 010 x – 2 6 1

Kyle Schmitt and Chase Ford; Grant Williams, Brandon Fuller (6) and Cooper Brenning. WP – Williams (7-1). LP – Schmitt (7-1). Save – Fuller (2). Records: Wilson Central 20-10-1, Hendersonville 30-11.