WEST POINT — Senior Gunter Reed is thankful the Raiders opted for a playoff tradition his mom would let him observe, especially after she shot down the team’s first idea.
“John Leyton (Lewis) texted us one night and said, ‘Let’s buzz our hair,’” Reed said. “I asked my mom and she was like, ‘You can’t do that.’ So we said, ‘Let’s do bleach,’ and everyone bought into that.”
Superstitions and good luck charms are no strangers to sports, especially during the postseason. Oak Hill Academy baseball joined in the fun prior to the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 4A playoffs.
Popularized in baseball after Puerto Rico did so in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, reaching the final, the Raiders followed suit, dying their hair blonde for the playoffs.
Senior transfer John Leyton Lewis suggested the idea, and after not thinking much of it at the start, the trend grew, with nine players joining in.
“I’ve seen several other teams do it in the past,” Lewis said. “It creates a connection with all the teammates and gives you a little bit of motivation to win as well. … I think the bleach is doing its work. … I expected me and a few other guys to do it, but not as many as what we have.”
Lewis talked after his game-winning hit to send Oak Hill to the 4A North State championship about how much fun this season has been for him, his first with the Raiders.
He took ownership of the idea from the start, got a few teammates involved, and the team chemistry that had already formed has continued to grow as Oak Hill is one win away from its first 4A state title, defeating Wayne Academy, 8-3, in game one of the state championship series on Tuesday.
“Before this year, they had never done anything like this before,” Oak Hill head coach John Siary said. “… They did it on their own, which shows good leadership by the seniors.”
Both Lewis and Siary were newcomers to the fold for the Raiders this season, and the culmination of this season has seen Oak Hill win 20 games.
This is the furthest that the Raiders have gotten since the 2015 season, and they’ve been doing it as a close-knit group of players who are playing loose and playing with energy.
That comradery has trickled into the dugout, where Oak Hill has been loud and proud with creative chants and a cast of props, including empty baseball buckets.
“We’re kind of a brotherhood here,” Reed said. “Whatever one person does, the other person is going to do and follow. We’re going to work together no matter what.”
Luckily, the hair bleaching has been a one-time thing for everyone involved except for Lewis, who had to re-bleach in the midst of the postseason.
“I had no idea that would happen,” Lewis said. “It was awesome. It was fun. I don’t regret it one bit.”
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