Mike Dively couldn't help but think of a roller coaster. He's not a roller-coaster aficionado or anything, but the Stonewall Jackson pitcher knows one when he sees it.
Dively explained the Generals' unpredictable baseball season after practice Wednesday in several ways, but it rolled off the tongue a little easier when comparing it to a thrill ride.
"It's like we're on a roller coaster," he said, slouched back in the home-side bleachers at Rebel Park. "We started going down, and when we came up just a half an inch, we started rolling back down — way, way down."
That half an inch was a win against Group AA Broadway in the first part of the season, only days after being run-ruled by those same Gobblers. After that, the Generals went on a freefall. In the team's first 11 games, the win over Broadway was the only highlight among an amusement park full of lowlights.
"When you're 1-10, you don't have much determination to play," Dively said. "What did we have to lose? We'd be what, 1-12?"
Suddenly, something happened. Someone flipped the light switch. Stonewall Jackson began winning.
It started with a doubleheader sweep against Shenandoah Valley Academy on April 28, and it's still going. The only bump in the team's current streak — five wins in six games — was a loss to Wilson Memorial that the players and coach have put completely out of mind.
A win tonight against county rival Central would do wonders for a team that three weeks ago had absolutely no confidence in itself. But if the Generals have learned anything from the last six games it's to never, ever look ahead. It doesn't hurt to look back, though, even if it stings a little bit.
"I always wear a hat everywhere I go," Dively said, finally proud to sport a Stonewall lid with the team's new logo. "Before I was like, 'Let's go with the Penn State hat.'"
Outfielder Shawn Mayes felt the same way. The last time he played baseball was two years ago on the junior varsity squad. He decided to give it another shot this year as a junior, but he didn't expect to lose — at least not this much.
"The worst thing was in school," he said. "I have one of the soccer coaches as my teacher. I always tell him soccer is just an after-school activity. 'Do you guys even score?' He's like, 'I bet you wish they didn't keep score in baseball, don't you?'
"I couldn't say anything to that."
Stonewall coach Bill Harlow had even more trouble dealing with the losses. As a player in the late 1980s, Harlow was used to winning, and winning big. Not making it past the Region B tournament was considered a down year. He never imagined it could get this bad.
"I had a lot of sleepless nights," said Harlow, who commutes from Strasburg, where he teaches, to New Market every day for practice. "The drives from Strasburg, it was constant thinking. I had 35-40 minutes of thinking every day ... just thinking about what I could do. My son once in a while would ask why I was so grouchy."
Needless to say, Harlow can lay his head on the pillow at night with a little more ease. In fact, he's is a completely different person, according to his players.
"Andy Zirkle keeps asking me, 'Did you go to the doctor and get some kind of medication? Because you're happy now,'" Harlow said.
Everyone's happier now. The team is winning, and the fans are finally starting to fill the seats. It hasn't been easy, though, not by a long shot. Stonewall has won its last five games by a combined total of 10 runs. A 6-3 win at Riverheads last Friday was the result of six runs in the top of the seventh inning.
It's not just the hitting that's improved. Through the first five games of the season, the Generals made an eye-popping 28 errors. Over the last six games, that number dropped to just 16. Stonewall Jackson (6-11, 3-6) currently sits in fifth place in the Shenandoah District standings, one game out of fourth place, a place unheard of not long ago.
"We just needed to get that confidence and a few wins," Mayes said. "Now that we're starting to win, people are saying, 'Oh, he'll make that play. He'll get the hit we need.' It's a whole different thing for us."
Added Dively: "We're peaking at the perfect time. The tourney is just a week and a half away. I just hope we keep this going."
Just then, Dively throws out the roller coaster comparison.
"Now we're starting to come back up," he said, just before Mayes interrupted.
