Jared Wood had his eye on the high-school baseball scene in the mid-Missouri area for quite some time. Then the chance to be a part of it was presented in the form of the head-coaching job at South Callaway.
"For awhile, I've been wanting to get to the area because I've known the baseball is so good," Wood said at last week's Final Four. "It's kind of died down in the northern part of the state where I'm from, so I was more than excited to come down here and play with the best.
"Now we've beat the best and we are the best."
The Bulldogs are Callaway County's latest bearers of baseball hardware, having captured the Class 2 state title with a 4-3 win over Valle Catholic on Thursday night in Springfield. South Callaway's title is the second in as many years for a Callaway County team and for Class 2 District 6, which has now had a Final Four team in eight of the last nine seasons.
The Bulldogs' county and district mate, the New Bloomfield Wildcats, captured the Class 2 championship in 2011.