There are several ways to celebrating clinching a College World Series trip.
The first way, immediately after recording the game’s final out, is to dogpile on the mound. Fans of the team who clinched erupt in joyous celebration, particularly if the clinch is at home.
Another way is to wave to fans of your team, thanking them for their attendance and support throughout a tough series.
What did the North Carolina Tar Heels do this year?
First off, they dogpiled the mound after the beautiful defensive teamwork from Parks Harber and Dalton Pence, ending Game 2 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional with a 2-1 win over West Virginia. From the postgame celebrations, I can tell UNC players and coaches didn’t want to leave the Boshamer Stadium infield.
Eventually, North Carolina made its way into the tunnels for postgame interviews.
What we didn’t realize until after those interviews, however, is part of the Diamond Heels‘ celebration included a fun jab at the recently-defeated Mountainers.
North Carolina Head Coach Scott Forbes and Vance Honeycutt both simultaneously realized that the locker room was blaring “Country Roads” and they shared a grin. Dalton Pence joined in as well giggling about being able to hear the spirited sing-along 😅#CollegeBaseball… https://t.co/DnHvIFH3xJ pic.twitter.com/eVMJyTWydT
— Noah Bieniek (@NoahB77_) June 9, 2024
There’s a couple of fans in the replies who disagree with UNC’s postgame song choice, but I have no problem with it, especially after how Mountaineers ace Derek Clark cockily walked off the mound in Game 1.
I have no doubt that after seeing the above clip, West Virginia will be cheering a little harder for UVA to beat North Carolina on Friday.
The Diamond Heels, however, can choose to celebrate how they want. After all, they’ll be playing in the College World Series and the Mountaineers will be watching from home.
Country roads, take me home…
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