RHS has their eyes on the prize

By Staff
Rebecca James, Franklin County Times
The Russellville Golden Tigers Baseball Team will make their debut in unchartered waters today: The quarter final round of the state baseball playoffs.
"We've never been this far in the playoffs before," said Coach David Ward. "We're trying to treat this game just like any other game, and we won't be changing anything as long as we play the way that we have been playing."
Russellville defeated Fairfield in the first round of the playoffs and moved on to face Gardendale in the second round, beating the Rockets two games to one.
As they head into play against Etowah later today, Russellville is quickly closing in on the state record of 43 wins set by Hartselle High School in 1998.
"Tying the 40 game record is great," said Ward. "What we really want to do is win 46 games."
Forty-six wins would give Russellville the 5A championship.
With the 40 wins that they already have for the season, Russellville became only the fourth team in the state to reach the 40 win mark in a single season, joining Hartselle, Prattville and Tuscaloosa County.
A major part of the success of the team is that most of them have played together since they were young.
"There's no telling just how many games these guys have played together," said Ward.
"Most of these guys have been playing together since they were 7 or 8 years old."
As the game approaches, Ward is making sure the Tigers keep their focus on the game ahead much like he would do for any other game.
"We just want to finish this and get the ring," he said, hinting that the team is fully aware of what's at stake as the playoffs progress.
"I won my last championship ring 10 years ago and I am ready for a new one," he laughed.
The Tigers will take on Etowah at 5 and 7:30 p.m. at Etowah. The tie breaker game will be played on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. if it is needed.