Six games into the season, first-year New Bloomfield Wildcats baseball coach Justin Forsythe was winless and questioning his own skills.
Now, Forsythe is in charge of a district champion looking to decorate his inaugural campaign with even more accolades.
New Bloomfield - the No. 3 seed and host for the Class 2, District 8 tournament - put the top-seeded, state-ranked Linn Wildcats in a deep deficit, riding that to a 7-3 triumph in Thursday night's championship in Mokane. The title game was moved to South Callaway because of wet field conditions at New Bloomfield.
The Wildcats (14-9) will now move on to play at the District 7 champion Westran Hornets (14-3) in a Class 2 sectional at 6 p.m. Monday.
Since that frustrating start, Forsythe has directed the Wildcats to victories in 14 of their last 17 games to claim their first district title since its run to the Class 2 state championship in 2011.
"It was a total 180(-degree turn) from what they're used to in the past from their previous coach (Brandon Talbot)," Forsythe said Friday. "But they bought into it and I asked that if they believed in me and trusted me, we'd get that district title.
"And now we're here."
Junior third baseman Tyler Fennewald led off the top of the second inning Thursday night with a double to left for New Bloomfield. One pitch later, junior catcher Derek Shikles bunted and reached on a Linn error. The miscue allowed Shikles to advance to second, while Fennewald sprinted home to grab a lead that New Bloomfield wouldn't relinquish.
Two batters later, junior starter Clay Jensen singled home Shikles - the first of his three runs batted in - to stretch the margin to 2-0.
New Bloomfield - which held an 11-5 hitting edge - had chances to widen the gap, but wouldn't cash in again until the fifth.
With two outs in the inning, Jensen lined a single into right to score senior center fielder Tucker Lane.
Jensen's arm and bat tormented Linn in what Forsythe called his "best game of the year." Jensen finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while striking out five in a complete-game outing on the mound. He gave up three runs on five hits and walked three.
"... He's a kid we look forward to stepping up and when a big game happens, he's focused and ready to play," Forsythe said.
Forsythe stressed that the two runs in the second took some of the pressure of his squad. But it was New Bloomfield's four-run outburst in the sixth where he felt his team really established control against Linn, ranked No. 3 in Class 2 by the Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association.
Freshman right fielder Zac Burton coaxed a walk to start the inning, then moved to second when senior second baseman Sam Niedergerke reached base on an attempted sacrifice.
Junior shortstop Grant Nichols followed by striking out, but Lane walked on five pitches to load the bases. Fennewald followed with a single to right, scoring Niedergerke and Burton to make it 5-0.
Shikles doubled to right to plate Lane, while Jensen reached later in the inning on a two-out fielder's choice to drive in Fennewald and finish New Bloomfield's scoring.
"You could just see our kids perk up and knew that (the game) was there's," Forsythe said of the sixth. "The pressure kind of sunk Linn.
"District baseball does that and I said for the past few weeks that (pressure) wasn't going to sink us, especially with Clay on the mound."
Linn responded by scoring three times with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Center fielder Chase Laughlin singled home second baseman Tony Mebruer, then Laughlin scored along with shortstop Ryan Mantle on third baseman Ben Klebba's two-run double to center off Jensen.
New Bloomfield stranded a runner in the top of the seventh, before Jensen retired Linn in order in the bottom of the inning to secure the championship.
Niedergerke finished 3-for-4, while Fennewald was 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs.
As for Westran, Forsythe didn't know much about the Hornets, but he figured the best course of action for his squad was to do what got it into the state playoffs.
The strategy didn't help much to start the season, but it's doing just fine now.
"We got a good idea of what they're going to bring, but we're going to stick with what we do," Forsythe said. "(We'll play) defense and (take) good approaches at the plate, and hopefully it'll go in the right direction for us."