By Anvil Welch

awelch@joplinglobe.com

The Webb City High School baseball team basically lived up to its promise in placing runner-up in the Missouri Class 3A Tournament this season.

“We had four players sign early (for college),” Cardinal coach Shawn Mayes said. “So we knew we had a special group of athletes returning. We knew we had good players who’d had success. They knew the game.”

It was the first assignment as a head coach for Mayes. He had assisted Bryce Darnell, who moved to Missouri Southern State University, for two seasons after helping Kirk Harryman for a pair during a four-year stint at Joplin High School.

The record of 24-6 overall and Southwest Conference championship at 7-1 suggest that Mayes, a graduate of Webb City High School, handled the transition well with an occasional bump.

Mayes is the 2008 Joplin Globe All-Area Coach of the Year.

“It wasn’t easy,” Mayes, 30, said of the season. “But Coach Darnell not only prepared me for the situation. The players were prepared, too. I give Coach Darnell a lot of credit.

“Honestly, I just happened to be the one the administration had trust in as the head coach,” Mayes said.

A contemporary coach described Mayes as “very open, very unassuming and a bit uncomfortable in the spotlight.”

No ego?

“Not at all,” said the coach.

Mayes is comfortable in saying he’s been blessed during his relatively brief coaching career. After all, Harryman’s Eagles won a state title during his time as an assistant. Ditto for Darnell’s Cardinals.

Mayes noted that the 2008 Cardinals, who broke several team and individual records, had failure — they lost to Carl Junction in a 2007 district final — as well as success in their past.

“That failure reminded them to not take things for granted. Anything can happen,” Mayes said. “We caught (Carl Junction’s) Zak Porath in an outstanding effort in that 2007 district championship game.