Turning around: Northside no longer ‘sneaking up’ on teams

So far, 2020 is a turnaround season for the Northside Eagles.

Compared to their 11-13 finish last year, Northside has already won over half the amount of games they won last year. But more important than the overall record is the region record, and Northside has habitually been at the bottom of the Region 1-6A standings.

That looks like it’s changing.

The Eagles went 1-11 in their region last year. They’ve already tallied one region victory, so they’re on the up and up when it comes to improvement.

But the record isn’t what stands out; it’s how they’re doing it.

“We try to take care of the small things,” said Northside Head Coach Mark Estes. “Depending on how you’re playing us, we might play small ball. We’re not the type of team that can just wait for three consecutive hits; we can’t do that.”

Estes has established his team’s identity and more importantly, the players have seemed to have bought in to what he’s selling.

The proof is in the Eagles’ high-powered offense that scored 76 runs over the course of eight games.

Their offense has blown out teams and saved games.

“We’ve got to put the ball on the ground, we’ve got to hit and run, we’ve got to do those types of small things that’s going to make (teams) move around,” said Estes about his team’s offensive approach. “We’ve got to get the (opponents) moving around so we can try to take advantage of the situation, and a lot of times that gets us into situations where we can have that key hit or back to back hits that can put two or three runs on the board.”

Along with an established identity, the Eagles players have the desire to win each and every game.

When they faced Warner Robins, Northside blew a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning and Warner Robins took a 7-5 lead heading into the fifth inning. The way they blew the lead felt like a tree getting chopped down, waiting to tip over to its demise.

But Northside didn’t fold.

Even with the momentum against them, mistakes piling up, and the heat of the rivalry intensifying everything; the Eagles remained composed and played like the score was still 0-0.

“They never give up,” said Estes about his team. “We had our first (region) game down in Valdosta (and) were down 4-0. But the guys kept rallying, we came back, we tied that game up, (and won).”

They eventually rallied back to beat Warner Robins too, 11-7.

Their first region and rivalry matchup ended in victories; this team can no longer be looked at as the reject like they’ve been over the years.

Northside’s time is arriving, the team knows it, and so do their opponents.

“We’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore,” said Estes. “We’ve got to bring the same confidence every time we come out (to play). So, that’s going to be big for us.”

Now they’re a team on the radar and Northside will get every team’s best shot heading into their most important part of the year, region play.

There’s a lot of ball to be played, so Northside’s biggest challenge is riding this momentum to the postseason.

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