By Michael Butler

Yogi Berra had a lot of interesting sayings. The long-time Yankees catcher and Hall-of-Famer gave us some good ones.

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

“It’s like deja vu all over again.”

The last one might just apply to the Tallassee baseball team. And John Goodman hopes it does.

Last year’s THS team got off to a slow 1-6 start then went on to win 22 of their next 26 games before falling in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs. The 2026 team is 1-7 now a couple of weeks into the season.

Goodman knows, based on last year, there is no need to panic.

“We tell the kids every day to relax and play the game,” he said. “They are young and need experience. Trust the process. Get better every day, every game. We still have a long season ahead.”

Games really count once area play begins in April, but the Tigers are without a couple of key players due to injury in the meantime – Brue Milner and Abram Whittington. The injury bug also hit the Tigers last season.

“We’re snakebit,” Goodman added. “Our only two returning starters other than Jack (Butler) and Brandon (Goodman) pitching, are out now.”

Milner, a two-time all-state catcher, led the team in hitting last year and had already hit three homeruns in seven games. Whittington was the team leader in ERA last year and played a key role at the plate and in the outfield.

A couple of underclassmen have already stepped up at the plate. Kaleb Gillespie leads the team in batting average hitting .333. Hamp Love is batting .318. Each have also earned time on the mound in the pitching rotation.

Butler leads the team with a 2.27 ERA and pitched 5 1/3 innings in the 15-1 six-inning win over Montgomery Academy at Riverwalk Stadium on Thursday. Goodman threw 2/3 of an inning in relief to close it out in the Tigers’ first win.

Tallassee plays next at Beauregard on Monday, March 9. Varsity starts at 4:30 followed by the junior varsity game.

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