Piedmont, AL – Piedmont’s Deerman tabbed as North coach in North-South All-Star Game; 3 county players selected
By Al Muskewitz
Matt Deerman got a nice surprise while taking some time off at the beach.
The Piedmont baseball coach didn’t know until a reporter reached out Tuesday to tell him he had officially been named one of the coaches for the North team in the North-South baseball doubleheader during All-Star Sports Week later this summer.
“I had no idea when it was coming out because they didn’t tell us,” Deerman said. “It’s an honor to be recognized that way, to be chosen to do that.
“When you’ve had good teams and people statewide recognize it, that’s kind of where it comes from. And that comes from having good players. If our players don’t get us deep in the playoffs every year nobody knows what kind of program we have. I think it’s a credit to our team being there and people seeing us statewide. It’s a huge honor. I’m proud of it.”
Deerman just finished a school-record season in which he directed the Bulldogs to the Class 3A finals for the third time in the last six years. The Bulldogs won Game 1 of the finals before falling to Trinity Presbyterian in the second-day doubleheader. He’ll be working with Boaz’ Adam Keenum.
The all-star game will be a rematch of the minds of sorts, but Deerman downplays that aspect of the game. The South team will be coached by Trinity’s Jarrod Cook.
“This all-star thing, it’s definitely for pride, North versus South, but at the same time, it’s an opportunity for the kids to be recognized and let them get down there and have a good time and kind of compete for their end of the state,” he said. “There’s nothing to that (coaching rematch). We’re just the guys in charge, just oversee them and make sure they behave and stuff. There’s usually not a whole lot of strategy to these all-star games.”
It is a particularly unique honor in that Deerman played in the game as a high school senior in 1998 and now is getting the chance to coach in it. The year he was selected he was supposed to start at second base in the second game, but the first game was washed out in the fourth inning and he never got to play.
“To have been a player and now have an opportunity to coach, that’s a neat thing personally for me,” Deerman said. “When you get to relive stuff as a coach, it’s different because you’re not out there and playing anymore, but it’s still kind of neat to do it as a player and a coach. I’m like a little kid about it.”
Calhoun County may have gotten shut out when it came to players selected to the North-South Softball Game also announced Tuesday, but it had loads of representation in the baseball game.
In addition to Deerman, Piedmont’s Jack Hayes made the North team, as did Oxford’s Sam Robertson and Peyton Watts.
“I’m so excited for Jack to have an opportunity to get down there and see what he can do against the best players in the state,” Deerman said of his two-sport standout. “Jack is just a dawg; he’s a competitor out there. I think if you ask Jack, he’s probably going to say he wants to play baseball. I think wherever he gets an opportunity he’s going to be successful no matter where he ends up.” [*** read more]
Cover photo: Piedmont coach Matt Deerman (R) and Trinity Presbyterian’s Jarrod Cook meet at a home plate before their Class 3A state championship game at Jacksonville State earlier this month. They’ll face each other again in July as the respective coaches of the North and South All-Star teams.
