On Saturday March 28th at approximately 7:45 pm, the Tipp City High School Baseball team left the high school headed for Fort Walton Beach, Florida for a spring baseball tournament they participate in every year. The team arrived Sunday morning at the Holiday Inn Sunspree on Okaloosa Island which is located in southern Okaloosa County, Florida. The team was accompanied by 4 coaches and several parent chaperones. The team occupied 7 different rooms with 4 boys to a room. Over the next several days the Varsity and Junior Varsity teams played in games at several local high schools.

On Wednesday April 1st while conducting curfew checks of the boys’ rooms, Assistant Varsity Coach Jim Johnson reported to Head Coach Bruce Cahill that he believed he smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from one of the rooms. After discussion with the other coaches it was decided that they would do a room inspection the following morning.

At approximately 11:30 the next morning, while the students were out, a search of the room was conducted and several rolled marijuana cigarettes and partially burnt “roaches” were discovered in a Listerine travel bottle. When the students arrived back at the hotel, the coaches questioned them about what they had found and their involvement. At the direction of Athletic Director Matt Shomper, local law enforcement was called to investigate.

At 13:08, Officer Arnold of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department arrived and completed interviews with the boys and determined they where all being truthful as to what happened, so he decided not to make any arrests. He then spoke with Assistant High School Principal Brian Honeycutt and informed him of the decision and advised that the evidence, 3 grams of marijuana, would be collected and maintained for future use if necessary. Honeycutt informed Officer Brown that the school was going to take administrative action against the students.

The students were sent home at their own expense as soon as arrangements with their parents could be made. I spoke with Dr. Kronour about the incident and he said that the school was taking the appropriate administrative steps with regards to the discipline of the four students involved.

On a more positive note, the varsity team did finish the tournament 2 & 3. Coach Cahill said that typically they play against ranking Kentucky teams. This is the 11th year of the trip in which the team has participated in tournaments in Cocoa Beach, Orlando, and Tennessee. This is their second year back at Ft. Walton Beach, FL. Cahill said the trip helps to bond the team by participating in activities, team dinners, practice and to build experience against high ranked teams.

For their first game on Monday March 30th the team played 8th ranked Lexington Dunbar HS at Niceville HS and finished with a 6-5 loss.

On Tuesday March 1st the team came out strong for game 2 when they played at Ocaloosa Walton Community College against Todd County HS. Ryan Koopman pitched a perfect game for the first 5 innings with T.J. Smith finishing up for a Tipp City win of 10-0. Later that day they played 16th ranked Louisville Dupont Manual High School at Ft. Walton Beach HS and was up 4-0 until a rain delay. After the delay they finished with an 8-5 loss.

The team had Wednesday off from games and Thursday was a complete rainout, but they were back at it on Friday against #3 ranked Louisville Eastern HS at Ft. Walton Beach HS in which they ended up with a 20-6 loss.

The team finished up on Saturday, April 4th against Crestview High School coming from behind 3-1 in the 7th inning and finishing up with a win of 8-7 in ten innings.

For more information on the Tipp City High School baseball teams such as schedule, scores, players and coaches please visit www.tippecanoebaseball.com.