Berry, Bradley are Baseball Coaches of the Year

By ADAM PRUIETT

adamp@nwfdailynews.com

There's a lot to be said for meeting lofty expectations and defying low expectations.

Despite a season embroiled in adversity, the Niceville baseball team flourished under coach Kevin Berry. The Eagles had ample talent coming into the year, and Berry molded their potential into a force that reached the Class 5A final four for the first time since 1989.

On the other hand, Paxton coach Jeff Bradley began the year with a senior-free club that was supposed to take a precipitous slide. Instead, the young Bobcats reached the regional finals for the second straight year and were the last public school standing in Class 1A.

For Berry's job of keeping the Eagles focused and impervious to underachieving, and Bradley's job of leading the Bobcats to overachieving, the duo are this year's Daily News Baseball Coaches of the Year. Berry garnered the award for big schools (Class 4A-5A), while Bradley nabbed the honor for small schools (Class A-3A).

Niceville's Brett DeVall and Paxton's Colby Forehand both spoke of their respective skippers as being more than just a coach.

"Not only was he a good coach, but he was basically like a father figure to most of us on the field," DeVall said. "His approach to the game and the mental side of it, along with the stuff he had to do off the field, was amazing, especially in a high school coach. Of course, he's not your typical high school coach."

"He's pretty much treated me like a child of his own throughout my career at Paxton," Forehand said. "I wouldn't want another coach besides him.

"For him to have the year he's had, especially in basketball (where he coached the team to the regional finals), and for him to coach both sports, I give him a lot of respect for that."

Berry became embattled when he was reprimanded for using a racial slur before the season, and then during the year the Eagles were forced to forfeit six games due to using an ineligible player. Through it all, Berry and his team persevered, dominating the district tournament before willing their way through the regional - three of Niceville's four wins were by one run - and into the final four.

"The thing about it is they understood what a team is about," said Berry, whose Eagles finished 22-11. "With a team, you compete everyday, practice everyday, understand failure everyday, understand rewards."

Bradley worked his magic without a single senior on his roster and just four juniors. The Bobcats finished 11-11, but saved their best for district play - they were 6-0 - and the postseason, where they captured the district tournament title and made a shocking run to the regional finals.

 "Even though we were 11-11, for you to be the last public school playing and make it to the elite eight and have no seniors, that's just a true compliment on all of them," Bradley said. "As far as the whole program goes, to see those guys come back and do what they did at the end of the year was just incredibly fun to watch."