Argyle's baseball team completed a historic run this week. The Eagles won their second straight Class 4A state title Thursday, defeating Sweeney, 6-3.
But in the Denton County town known for its winning sports teams, the final out of the season does not mean an end to baseball.
After the win in Austin, the Eagles arrived back in Argyle by bus at 2 a.m. Just hours later, Argyle head baseball coach Ricky Griffin sat at a desk in his office, preparing for a youth baseball camp, which begins Monday.
"As tired as I am right now, this is a really good feeling," Griffin said.
Winning will do that. And in Argyle, they win -- a lot.
"We go into it expecting to win a state championship," he said. "It doesn't always happen, but for sure that's our goal and expectation."
An expectation his ball club met. Griffin's Eagles finished the season with 40 wins and just one loss. Griffin said it wasn't easy. A year earlier, his state and national champion team went a perfect 37-0.
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"We had a target on our back all season long, coming back as national champions," he said. "So everybody wanted to be the team that beat us."
Griffin, who also teaches special education at Argyle, considers himself more psychologist than coach. He said his players are talented athletes, so he focuses on making sure they're mentally prepared.
As he gets ready to prepare potential future Eagles at next week's camp, Griffin said he cherished what his 2018 group meant to him -- and vice versa.
"It means a lot to see a kid be teary-eyed because of joy," he said. "At the end of a baseball game like that, they're okay with squeezing my neck, hugging me tight. And they don't really care how it looks. It means a lot."
