Flash up 1-0 in championship series with a chance to clinch tonight or tomorrow
The Henderson Flash are one win away from an Ohio Valley League Championship, the team’s first since 2023. While the Flash look to put an exclamation mark on an incredible season, Gunnar Waldrop has already rewritten the record books.
Waldrop was named the Cubb Stokes Offensive MVP for the OVL after batting .395. He also had 15 doubles, 12 home runs, 56 RBI, and 51 runs. According to Kevin Patton, each of those stats set a new regular season record for the Flash.
In the last week of the team’s regular season, Waldrop had an unbelievable run at the plate. Over seven games, Waldrop posted a .481 batting average with 7 homers, 21 RBI, and 16 runs. He homered twice in one game, and then had one in which he hit three home runs, including two grand slams and a two-run shot.
Waldrop admitted that he had hit two home runs in a high school game before, but had never experienced anything like that.
“Honestly, that whole week I was seeing the ball really well.” Waldrop said. “It was awesome in the moment. Fulton put in position players, so I could swing as hard as I could and just hope for the best. It just worked out for me in the end.”
As far as who he credits for his and his team’s success, he said that it all goes back to the manager, J.D. Arndt, who recently earned his 200th win with the Flash.
“He just lets us play the game. He lets us have fun and that helps a bunch,” Waldrop said.
It’s been one of the important lessons he’s learned this summer: not to take the game too seriously. He stated that “if you treat it like a game, it’ll all work out from there. Once you try to make it all that your life is centered around, that’s where it starts to go downhill.”
Waldrop came to Henderson by way of the University of Alabama-Huntsville and his hometown of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. While he’s currently in the transfer portal and looking for a new place to play next season, Waldrop is thankful that one of his UAH assistant coaches, B.J. Holloway, connected him with the Flash this summer.
He began playing baseball at a young age after some encouragement from his father. He didn’t really start to love it until he was a teenager, remembering how hitting started to click when he was around 15 years old. He said once he realized how good he could be, it just took off from there.
He’s glad that his dad got him started in the game and has appreciated all of the support he has received from him and his mother. He also named his hometown hitting coach, Joey Lewis, as a major influence on his baseball career.
“It’s also all of my coaches throughout my life. I just keep sticking with them and learning,” Waldrop said.
He’s also been working to switch from being a catcher all his life to playing in the outfield now.
“It’s been an awesome transition. Catching is fun in the moment, but it wears on your body. I’ve loved playing outfield almost every game. It gives my body a good break,” Waldrop said of his new position.
It’s fitting that Waldrop has begun learning to be an outfielder. He said that he has always tried to model his swing after Yankees’ All-Star right fielder Aaron Judge, who has long been one of the best power hitters in the game. Waldrop has done his best Judge impersonation this summer and hopes that his success at the plate continues throughout the OVL Championship Series.
He noticed that since his big week, the opposing pitchers from Madisonville changed their approach when facing him in the OVL semi-finals.
“Madisonville started pitching around me. I wasn’t getting fastballs in the zone and was getting walked quite a bit too,” Waldrop said.
Waldrop is excited for the opportunity to win a championship with his Flash teammates, noting that he has never really been this close to winning anything of this magnitude in his lifetime.
Now, Waldrop and his team are just one win away from bringing home another OVL Championship after having defeated the Hoptown Hoppers, 16-13, on Tuesday night. Waldrop finished 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and three runs scored.
“We’re feeling great… We always usually hit against them (Hoptown). If we just pitch well and play good defense, we should win,” Waldrop said.
The Flash will look to close out the series tonight at 6:30 PM in Hopkinsville. If necessary, the series will return to Henderson’s Park Field on Thursday.
