WOODLAWN - Woodlawn Coach Tommy Richardson opened the 2023 baseball season with a milestone victory Monday as he notched his 700th coaching win with a 19-0 blowout of the Dumas Bobcats.
Richardson took over the Bears’ baseball program before the start of the 1994 season, just seven years after graduating from Woodlawn High School. All 700 of his victories have come at his alma mater.
Under his leadership, the Bears have won eight state championships, been the state runner-up three times and has won 22 district championships. He is currently coming off back-to-back state titles in 2021 and 2022 after the COVID pandemic canceled the 2020 season.
While his early teams had success, it wasn’t until 2007 that he finally broke through and made it to the state championship game. The Bears fell to conference foe Parkers Chapel, 11-7, in that game, but it sparked a turning point for the program.
“We had a tough time making it out of the regionals because they only took the top two at that particular time,” Richardson said.
But he said making that championship game in 2007 was really the launching pad for the Woodlawn baseball program.
“Having a good group, and getting there (to the title game) and just building off of that, creating a tradition” he said. “You’ve got good tradition here. Kids want to play, and do things right - not adding to and changing everything in one fell swoop but working it in the direction you want it to go.”
Taking out the canceled 2020 season due to the pandemic, the Bears have advanced the state finals in 11 of the past 15 state tournaments. The championships came in the 2008, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022 season whle Woodlwas state runner-up in 2007, 2009 and 2019.
With last year’s state championship added to the trophy case, Woodlawn has now climbed to third on the all-time state high school baseball championship list in...
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