NATCHEZ — Starting the MHSAA 1A State Championship Game in centerfield instead of on the pitcher’s mound was torturous for All-Metro Player of the Year Thomas Garrity.

The Cathedral Green Wave ace was riding high after extending his scoreless postseason inning streak to 20 against Stringer in the South State Championship Series. However, because the game was pushed back to Monday, two days before the state championship game against Smithville High School, Garrity’s arm was not recovered enough to start Game 1.

“It was killing me,” Garrity said. “I remember when we were down by three runs, I was talking to (Jacob Jenkins) in the outfield, saying, ‘if we can get a few runs, I’m coming in and I’m going to shut them down.’”

Cathedral’s rally never came, and the Green Wave were swept in the series.

Rewind two days before Cathedral’s first encounter against Smithville, and Garrity was pacing the floors of his house with jitters he had never felt before. Because Garrity had already graduated, he was finished with school, so he woke up at 10 a.m. before a 6 p.m. contest with nothing to do but think about the game.

“It was the worst thing I could do,” Garrity said. “My parents got home around noon, and I remember walking back-and-forth around the house nervously. Then I went and sat back down and thought about it some more.”

Once the game started, Garrity did what came most natural to him — pitch. Garrity always wanted the ball in his hand with the stakes raised, and with a state championship berth riding on the line, Garrity threw his second straight shutout, helping his team move past Stringer with a 1-0 victory.

That wasn’t the first time Garrity took the mound with nerves. Admittedly, Garrity always has butterflies going into a contest, even though he enjoys the spotlight. His nerves nearly got the best of him in the first game of the playoffs against Noxapater High School, following the passing of his grandmother, Anne Elizabeth Garrity, in late April,

“When my grandmother died, I was devastated,” Garrity said. “She’s always been there, and we share a love for baseball. Knowing that she was up there and watching, it was easier to come out here and perform. My mom told me, ‘you’ve got to do it for her.’”

Garrity wore a green wristband on his arm with “do it for her” written on it for that game, and after the 10-0 victory, Garrity wore it for the remainder of the season.

Garrity finished the season with a 9-2 record and a 1.44 ERA. He recorded 95 strikeouts and 32 walks in 73 innings pitched, and his scoreless postseason inning streak ended at 23 in Game 2 against Smithville. Garrity couldn’t describe the rhythm he felt on the mound to end the season.

“I just went out there game-by-game and threw strikes,” Garrity said. “My defense was a major part of those zero runs on the board. My defense played shutout ball when I was on the mound.”

The greatest accomplishment of Garrity’s high school career was making the state championship game, and if he has it his way, it won’t be the last time he plays on the baseball diamond.

Still undecided about his future, Garrity hopes to either walk onto Mississippi State’s baseball team or earn a scholarship to play at a smaller school.