LINCOLN -- Just prior to the opening pitch of Lincoln's softball double-header against Valley Springs on Thursday, March 17, the Wolves baseball team began an impromptu sing along with the National Anthem.
The baseball team enjoyed a cookout with J. Keith, who recently resigned as head coach to take a job at Siloam Springs, preparing hot dogs, a tradition started three seasons ago by former coach Reed Mendoza, and hung around literally over the right field wall. At times the baseball team pounded the fence supporting their female counterparts on the Lady Wolves softball team.
Keith appreciated the patriotic enthusiasm and school spirit as they sang along with "The Star Spangled Banner."
"Oh yeah, they were right there in it word for word. They know it and that's big time," Keith said.
Drew Moore, one of Lincoln's primary starting pitchers during his sophomore season, enjoyed the outing.
"I think it's just a fun way to get everyone involved and we like to have fun. We just like to do funny things," Drew Moore said.
Immediately after "The Star Spangled Banner," the Wolves broke into a chant, "USA, USA, USA," as they and fans from both softball teams exercised freedoms founding fathers considered essential to the American dream that some of the original 13 colonies refused to ratify the U.S. Constitution binding them together as one nation without the "Bill of Rights," which guarantees each citizen of this nation "Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, Peaceable Assembly and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, among other expressed liberties.
"What better country could you live in than America, it's just a great freedom country?" Drew Moore said. "If we couldn't assemble none of the sports would be able to go on. That's just a great thing that we have in this country."
Keith hailed the Wolves baseball team as "a bunch of great kids," while explaining one thing the coaching staff tried to do while he was at Lincoln was change the culture, an emphasis that began in football. Keith said head football coach Mendoza started the process of changing the culture and that was something they wanted to do with all sports.
"The way to do that is supporting each other. It's not bad to get to go out there and get to watch those girls be really good in softball, too. That helps a lot when they're winning. They're a talented group of girls over there. I mean one through nine they're about as talented as they are in the state and that's fun," Keith said. "I love having our guys over there and putting up the "K" signs and having fun and just doing stuff that you know some of those girls never get the opportunity to go play in college and we were trying to make it as much of a college atmosphere as we could, and that's fun and hopefully the girls enjoyed that as much as the boys got to enjoy doing it. I know I had a blast out there cooking hot dogs on top of that trailer."
The next day the girls returned the favor, camping out in rainy, miserable weather to cheer on the baseball team during a 14-1 loss to Carlisle.
The best relief performance at a Lincoln baseball game in the 2022 season belonged to a team mom, Geena McClelland, who sang the National Anthem before a game when the sound system broke down.
"Our PA system up there got messed up and Miss Geena McClelland, one of our player's moms, just [performed] a capella, it right out there on the spot. Man, it was awesome. She didn't know she was going to do it. We couldn't figure it out and she just started singing and that was pretty cool too. So, we got a bunch of really good people here in Lincoln, Arkansas, and obviously you can see that in the kids they raise, too. That's what's really fun," Keith said.
Late in the season Lincoln freshman Brayden Brown performed "The Star Spangled Banner" on his saxophone prior to the Wolves' 24-1 victory over Green Forest in the District 3A-1 baseball quarterfinals on Thursday, April 28. The win advanced Lincoln into the tournament semifinals at Elkins and qualified the Wolves for regional play.
The Wolves' baseball season ended with a 9-0 loss to Danville in the Class 3A Regional 1 tournament at Greenland on May 6. Lincoln went 12-14 overall and 7-5 in conference in Keith's last season as coach.
MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADR/Lincoln freshman Brayden Brown performs "The Star Spangled Banner" on his saxophone prior to the Wolves' 24-1 victory over Green Forest in the District 3A-1 baseball quarterfinals on Thursday, April 28, 2022. The win advanced Lincoln into the tournament semifinals at Elkins and qualified the Wolves for regional play.