OTTUMWA

The tearful embraces told the story.

Really. There are no words.

Collin Miller and Cain Brown. Alex Bean. Camron Pickard. Jack Zahradnek.

On a summer night at somebody else’s home baseball field in Ottumwa, Radar O’Reilly’s town, Mid-Prairie’s senior baseball buddies said goodbye. It was emotional and it was tough. Goodbyes always are.

They finished their final high school season July 11 with a 6-4 loss in a 2A substate final to Van Buren County, about four wins and 180 miles away from where they wanted to end the summer: In Carroll winning a state championship.

Kyle Mullet, a Mid-Prairie alum who is now the Golden Hawks head baseball coach, was an assistant when he began working with this group, a band of seniors who helped the Hawks win four consecutive district championships, went to the state tournament twice in four years and enjoyed an annual trip to the College World Series in Omaha.

“This group of guys, I’ve been coaching them, the senior class, since they were eighth graders. I was their JV coach as eighth graders and freshmen,” Mullet said. “And just seeing those guys lead this team has been everything. Seeing those guys turn into young men, and what they’ve done off the field and on the field and all their success has been tremendous. It’s just incredible to watch. That’s where I get my joy from.”

Oh, this wasn’t the only “Senior Night” these guys have had. There’s football. And basketball.

But this night, this last game, was their final high school act. Together.

Brown is headed to western Iowa to play college football. Others will also head to college. For Collin Miller, it’s the farm.

“One of the top pitchers in the state and he doesn’t want to go play college baseball,” Mullet said of Miller. “He wants to be on the farm.”

For many, this night was about that.

A bunch of kids turning into men. Moving on and carving a path for more Golden Hawks.

“We meshed well all year,” Brown said. “Hopefully the team can leave a legacy for the younger guys next year.”

Among those carrying the torch are Karson Grout, a junior who is a University of Iowa verbal recruit, and Brady Weber, who is a pitcher for the baseball team and a quarterback who learned from Miller last fall.

“Everyone on this team are best friends,” Weber said. “We got 19, 20, 21 guys, something like that, and all of them are best friends. Wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”

And that’s the thing. This 27-7 team, ranked No. 2 in the Iowa Class 2A, wasn’t merely about the upperclassmen, who, in turn, learned from last year’s upperclassmen as state tournament semifinalists and learned from the 2020 team that was a state quarterfinalist.

“It wasn’t just the seniors that had their own little bubble,” Brown said. “The whole team intermixed. We meshed well together. That’s what helped us win a lot of games. Next year, hopefully they use that and keep going with it.”

And when the time arrived for hugs and tears and words on a summer night in Ottumwa, a heartbreaking disappointment in a shining season that included a 15-game winning streak and a No. 1 state ranking at one point, the talk was not of a game.

“We talked about us,” Mullet said. “It’s more about what I’m trying to do with these players. It’s not necessarily about the game, our success. We’re more concerned about growing these young men. We’re getting them in as eighth graders and we want to build them up. Break them down, build them back up through their high school career.

“Hopefully, they can be good assets once they leave here,” Mullet added. “A lot of guys want to play sports and we’ve got guys who want to be diesel mechanics or whatever they’re doing. Hopefully, they can carry the lessons and the experiences that you learn out here in the baseball field.”

Oh, the lessons were learned and they were learned early.

They were in the weight room all year long. They’re hitting inside during winter. They’re enjoying the game and each other.

“We come out here, we’re just having fun. We’re just playing the game we love to play,” Bean said.

“I’m just so proud of this team,” Grout said. “We came together really well as a family. They’re just brothers out there.”

They will always have this night.

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul