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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

Two years ago, Timothy Junkins had the unenviable position of stepping in midseason as the head coach of one of the top teams in Class 2A.

With so much working against him, he guided the Vincent Yellow Jackets back to the state championship game for the first time in his players’ lifetimes, earning a share of the Shelby County Coach of the Year honor in the process.

For all he and his players achieved in that season though, one thing eluded them–a Class 2A state championship, the same thing that eluded many other Vincent teams throughout the decades since their Class 3A crown in 1985.

With a senior class that was with him during that 2023 heartbreak, Junkins and the Jackets forged on in 2025 with one goal in mind–state or bust.

Junkins proved to be the steady hand that one of Vincent’s most talented groups of athletes needed to get over the top and win their first state baseball title in 40 years, and now, he stands alone as the Shelby County Coach of the Year for the first time in his career.

Coming off a heartbreaking end to their 2024 season against Mars Hill Bible in the quarterfinals, Junkins didn’t want his team to meet a similar fate in 2025, not when key players like Aiden Poe, Grayson Gulde, Casen Fields, Ethan McElrath and Aiden Gasaway were all entering their senior seasons.

He trained his players from the moment they started getting in shape in the fall to be more competitive. He had the players compete against each other in games throughout the offseason for prizes and bragging rights.

“We competed in November, December, no matter what it was. We play Christmas games, competing against teams,” Junkins said. “We bought them little Amazon travel ball rings for the winning teams. I mean, that’s been our motto this year is compete. And we compete every pitch, no matter the count, no matter the pitcher, no matter what size school we’re playing, and no matter of the situation, state championship or not, we’re going to compete.”

While some of the methods were unconventional, the results were undeniable. Vincent lived up to its expectations throughout the regular season, taking the fight to a brutal schedule of teams from as high as Class 6A while handling business in area with a 4-0 run through area play.

The difficult schedule and training helped the Jackets be more prepared when they took the stage in the postseason. While they entered the Class 2A playoffs as the consensus No. 1 team, Vincent played with an underdog’s hunger, which it needed when faced with adversity in the playoffs.

That was when another component of Junkins’ coaching came into play–enabling the seniors to take leadership of the team.

After coasting by in the first round against West End, the Jackets suffered a setback by losing game one of the second round to North Sand Mountain and stared down the prospect of a game three, which was how the 2023 and 2024 seasons both ended.

Poe then went the distance for game three, and while the Jackets were in a hole late, Keller Finn and McElrath stepped up with crucial hits to take the lead and live another day.

That senior leadership continued into the quarterfinals when Poe pitched a gem in game one against Sumiton Christian that set up a run-rule win. Knowing he had pitches left in his count, Poe went up to Junkins and told him that he could start game two.

That leadership paid off as he limited the Eagles to just two early runs, but Junkins would have to step in later in the game with a crucial decision to make.

After Calvin Johnson came in to relieve Poe once he hit his limit, he started out strong but got rattled in the sixth with a two-run home run that made it a one-run game.

With the junior clearly emotional about giving up the lead, Junkins went out to the mound not to put the ball in Gulde or Landon Archer’s hands but to settle down Johnson. The manager backed his pitcher, and it paid off as Johnson got four of the next five batters out to secure the win.

And with one emphatic yell from Johnson, Junkins’ decision was more than justified.

Vincent continued to fight down the stretch, overcoming another setback in the semifinals against Mars Hill Bible to win game three on the back of Grayson Gulde and then battling through a Poe knee injury and a deficit against Pike Liberal Arts to walk off and win the state title.

The competitiveness that Junkins instilled early on came out when it mattered the most and proved to be the defining trait of the Jackets’ run to the championship.

“We got a lot of seniors who have played a lot of baseball for that name on that chest and they love this place,” Junkins said after the game three win over North Sand Mountain. “They love competing. I’ve been using examples of all the time just how they hate to lose. And I always know I can fall back on them. They can fall back on each other. They are going to give 100 percent every single game. Are they going to be perfect every game? Probably not, but they’re going to compete their tails off and I’m going to ride within the most situations.”

Through it all, Junkins enabled his players to play loose and free and let their personalities shine on and off the field. The players said after the state championship win that getting out of their own heads was the key to unlocking everything.

As a result of him enabling them, the players loved Junkins right back, even to the point of dressing him in many hats and gear during playoff interviews on the field. That mutual bond helped carry Vincent to a historical season, and in the end, the players were the ones who carried Junkins on their shoulders with a blue map in his hands.

This year wasn’t short on great coaching performances, from Chelsea’s Michael Stallings helping fulfill the promise of a long-hyped senior class to make it to the state title game to Calera’s Joe Sparacino leading the Eagles on a remarkable run to the quarterfinals that included a road upset of Gulf Shores to Westminster OM’s Kevin Franklin helping the Knights win their first playoff game in program history.

However, it was Junkins’ job building the culture that carried Vincent’s promised generation of stars to glory which set him above the rest as the Shelby County Coach of the Year, turning his unenviable position two years ago into a coveted spot in 2025.