By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
May 14, 2004
ENTERPRISE The small town of Enterprise is sometimes not recognized on maps in the United States, and Enterprise is so small that many people around the state of Mississippi may have never heard of the village-type community.
That may have changed Monday night, as the Enterprise baseball team accomplished something that many other teams previous had never even dreamed of achieving.
The Bulldogs defeated the North Forrest Eagles 9-3 to capture the Class 2A South State championship in baseball for the first time in school history.
Enterprise had competed for the South State championship on the baseball diamond three previous years in school history, but the championship was never won. Enterprise is a typical small town in rural central Mississippi just like any other town in the state.
The population is under 1,000 people and no red light exists in town, while the one big factor in a small town is that everyone knows everyone. Enterprise is no stranger to success in the athletic world, but when the school is mentioned in the world of sports, football always seems to be mentioned.
Enterprise baseball has evolved from a secondary sport to a sport that has grown to be loved by all of its citizens. In the late 1970s and early 1980s the sport was just a simple way for kids to have fun and the has certainly changed in the early stages of the 21st century.
The baseball field as many know it today didn't exist until the mid 1990s, and baseball was of course played in the corner of the L.J. Davis football field. The field was not a classic cathedral to honor the greats of baseball, and it was certainly not meant to look fancy. The main purpose was to have fun.
The back stop behind home plate was composed of chicken wire and the field itself resembled an old sandlot type atmosphere. Speed is a 1982 graduate of Enterprise and pitched 11-of-12 games his senior season which back then was very common.
Speed was the the head baseball coach at Enterprise from 1996-2000 and led the Bulldogs to the last South State championship appearance in 1997.
The Enterprise baseball program has produced many father-son combinations and the Moore family is one great example of what tradition at Enterprise is all about.
Donnie Moore is a 1976 graduate of Enterprise and is the current president of the Enterprise booster club, and remembers what baseball was like back in the late 70s.
Don Moore is a 2002 graduate of Enterprise and has carried on the baseball tradition in the Moore family having led the Bulldogs to a playoff appearance in 2000 as a sophomore.
Enterprise will open the Class 2A State Championship series at home Saturday against Mooreville (30-4) beginning at 1 p.m.