Willard Tigers win first baseball state championship with 'Coach Atch' in their hearts

OZARK — The thought of Justin Atchison remained on Blake Hultgren's mind for the majority of Saturday afternoon.

Willard's senior shortstop knew how proud "Coach Atch" would have been to see the Tigers in the state championship game. His former assistant coach, whom he lives his life after, died in a hunting accident in 2018.

Grain Valley rallied from down 7-2 to take an 8-7 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Willard had three outs to either force extras, win the program's first championship or finish as the state runner-up.

Hultgren didn't want the Tigers to come up short of winning the title for "Atch," again. Willard finished in third in 2019 after giving up a two-run lead with two outs…