Cook’s last stand? Tunstall softball coach in search of first state title

By Jason Wolf

Published: June 6, 2008

DRY FORK — Roger Cook gazes at the softball field he maintains, soaking in the meaning of his team’s just-completed victory.

Memories spanning the last 25 years of his life as a coach intertwine with thoughts of the immediate future, of what’s in store for both he and the program he has built. The images wash over the Tunstall softball coach like the steady pre-game drizzle, precipitation that temporarily delayed the Trojans’ playoff march.

The deep wrinkles bursting like sunrays from the outer edges of his eyes provide a physical embodiment of Cook’s outlook heading into today’s Group AA state semifinal against Poquoson (19-7) at 10 a.m. in Radford.

“What happened yesterday,” Cook said earlier this postseason, “has no bearing on what’s going to happen tomorrow. At least, I hope.”

This weekend marks the second consecutive season the Trojans have appeared in the Final Four — and 20 years since Tunstall (22-3) last competed for the state championship.

Cook, the only head coach his school’s softball program has ever known, admittedly may retire after this season. His 464-82 career record, if included, would place him second all-time for wins in the Virginia High School League’s incomplete record book, behind former Powhatan coach Marie Crump’s 519 victories. The longtime Tunstall coach, however, has never won a state crown.

“He told us that that’s not what he needs to be happy,” junior pitcher Brittany Arnn said, “but what better way to end your career than having a state championship? That’s going to be a great feeling if we get to do that, and I hope we can pull it together and be a strong team and do it.”

Arnn and the Trojans were on the cusp of delivering that elusive championship a year ago. If they had only found a way to score in the sixth inning of their state semifinal game, when they had the bases loaded and nobody out, they likely would have advanced to play for the state title. Instead, Broad Run, a team then-ranked No. 6 in the country by USA Today, prevailed in extra innings. After their 1-0 victory against Tunstall in nine innings, the Spartans crushed New Kent 8-0 for its second softball championship this decade.

The defeat marked the closest Tunstall and Cook had come to the state’s ultimate softball game since falling 11-5 to Sussex Central in the 1988 championship game in Dry Fork. That contest, played by a group of red-and-white clad teens led by a much younger Roger Cook long before the current contingent of Trojans were even born, was played on Tunstall’s then-dirt-infield baseball diamond after being delayed a day by rain.

“We’ve had some teams that I thought were good enough to win (a state championship) and we never have. We just didn’t get the breaks when we needed to get the breaks,” Cook said. “But it ain’t what it means to me, it’s what it means to these kids to win something like that. … I would love to win one, but I’d like to see the expression on these kids’ faces if that did happen.”

“I think we’re good enough,” senior Jennifer Slaughter said after her home run against Spotswood in the rainy state quarterfinals Tuesday cemented Tunstall’s return trip to Radford. “It would be amazing. It would be awesome to go out there and really show everybody that we are the best team in the state. But what you can do and what you actually do, that’s really what makes a difference.”

Slaughter and her teammates largely agree that they’ve shared a bitter feeling about how their marathon game against Broad Run ended a year ago. And it’s been a difficult year, to say the least, for the Trojans.

Slaughter’s mother, Angela, an inspiration to every girl and coach and community member affiliated with this team, succumbed to cancer only a few games into the year. Hundreds attended her funeral, including members of several area softball teams, and the emotional event — which was truly an event — spawned a longer than two-week hiatus from playing for the Trojans.

Tunstall, as a team, has battled through various trials and tribulations this season. And the punches never seem to stop coming.

A shadow was even cast over the Trojans’ field by something other than the overcast sky during Tunstall’s victory against Spotswood earlier this week. Sophomore reserve Amanda Gibson missed the game, though she did make an appearance in the dugout beforehand, because her grandfather passed away.

Wendy Bryant-Cook, an assistant coach and Roger’s wife, quoted Psalm 126:5 before the state quarterfinal game:

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

Senior catcher Emily Atkinson, perhaps in a manner slightly less graceful, summed up her team’s attitude after dispatching Spotswood.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “We’re not going up (to Radford) to finish on Friday. We’ve won districts, we’ve won regionals, and I’m not going to say we’re unstoppable, but any team is going to have a tough time beating us. We’re ready to play and we’re back for blood.”

None of the coaches, nor the Cooks’ 12-year-old son, Bryant, were within earshot at the time of Atkinson’s grand announcement. But that’s just as well, since one of Roger’s stated reasons for contemplating retirement is to spend more time with his young son.

“People have to know that I’ve got a little boy that plays a lot of ball and sooner or later Roger Cook is going to have to follow his son and spend as much time with his son as he spends with somebody else’s children,” he said. “And that’s going to happen soon. It’s just a matter of time before somebody else is going to have to take over.”

An assistant coach rakes the base paths, the players long since scattered.

“I wouldn’t make a decision as to whether I was going to retire or whether I was going to come back until the season was over with anyway. Winning (a state title) wouldn’t change my mind,” Cook said. “Well, that would be the perfect ending, to go out on top. We’ve worked hard to get there. It would be a perfect thing. But listen, we’ve got to play a ballgame on Friday before we even play one on Saturday so…”

Cook grows quiet.

His eyes glaze over.

And he stares at his field.