Berryhill, Bratton have made huge impacts in coaching

It’s not often that two coaches, who have had huge impacts in the game on the diamond within a 30mile radius of each other, retire within the same week.

That has happened in the coverage area of The Starkville Daily News and Daily Times Leader with the recent announcements by Lee Berryhill and Marion Bratton.

Both Berryhill and Bratton have made their influence known in the sports of baseball and softball over the years.

When returning to the SDN as sports editor 10 years ago, I met Berryhill when he was still the baseball coach at Eupora High School.

It wasn’t very long after that Berryhill decided to take over the softball program at

East Webster.

The Lady Wolverines were frequent visitors to Ridgeland for the state championship series under his watch and they won five state championships in fast pitch. Berryhill also helped Eupora to a pair of baseball state titles.

When it came to winning at East Webster, Berryhill always deflected any credit to his players. He loves each and every Lady Wolverine that has come through the program and has always made sure to put them in the best positions to be successful.

This will be the second time within the last 12 months or so that East Webster has watched one of their veteran coaches call it a career with Wes Johnson doing so in baseball last year.

Right across Webster County on Highway 50 into Clay County, Bratton made the same announcement as Berryhill over the weekend.

Bratton is definitely one of the good guys in coaching.

In my days of covering high school sports in The Golden Triangle area, there are not many coaches I’ve crossed paths with a better attitude about what he does than Bratton. He really seemed to enjoy it and did it for a long time.

Combined with his days of playing baseball for West Point High School and the summer leagues, Bratton has spent 55 years on the diamond in some capacity somewhere in this area.

Bratton’s longest tenure was at Oak Hill Academy working mainly with the baseball and softball programs. He also had a stop at Heritage Academy in Columbus.

If there is anyone who deserves to be happy in life after coaching, it’s Bratton. He has certainly paid his dues.

This area has lost two giants of the game with the retirements of Berryhill and Bratton.

It was a pleasure of mine to get to write about their teams whenever the opportunity presented itself.

In whatever these two men decide to do next, best wishes to them.