Amory baseball motivated to bring state trophy home after tornado devastation

FULTON, Miss. (WCBI) — Amory baseball has everything it needs in a trailer hitched to a pickup truck. The Panthers have taken the trailer all around the Northeast Mississippi area since a tornado destroyed their facilities in late March.

“It’s been a wild ride,” Amory senior Bryce Glenn. “We’ve been all over the county practicing and playing.”

Amory played its first-round games at Hatley, then the rest at Hamilton.

The adversity didn’t derail what was shaping up to be a promising season. Amory went on to win the 3A north half championship — sweeping Kossuth.

Now the Panthers are back in the state title game a year after taking home the trophy. That trophy from 2022 didn’t make it through the tornado, though.

“Bringing back one and starting a new shelf on a new clean slate would be awesome,” Glenn said.

This group is battle-tested — both on and off the field.

“We never thought it would be this way,” Amory senior Corbin Gillentine said. “COVID, tornado and on top of that we’ve had three different head coaches. Three great head coaches but three different coaches.”

The Panthers will have the opportunity to bring the celebration back to Amory this next week. The first game of the championship series versus St. Stanislaus is at 4 p.m. Tuesday.