Vestavia Hills pitcher Ryan Vermillion put on an MVP performance on his future college home field Thursday night.

The senior Jacksonville State signee threw a complete-game, one-hitter as the Rebels beat defending champion Central-Phenix City 4-1 in Game 3 to win the Class 7A state title.

“Throwing Game 3 of the state finals, knowing that the season is on the line, that it’s do or die,” Vermillion said. “I said last week (a series win over No. 1 Thompson) was the most fun I’ve had, but I think this topped it to be honest.”

After Vestavia Hills (34-11) won the opener Wednesday night in walk-off fashion, Central-Phenix City (34-11) did the same in Game 2 Thursday to even the series and force a deciding game. Both of those scores were 5-4.

Due to heavy thunderstorms that even produced hail at one point, the start of Game 2 was delayed from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Game 3 started at 10 p.m. and finished at 12:21 a.m. CST. It didn’t matter at all to the Rebels and their fans, who crowded into Jim Case Stadium to see their team when its first title since Sammy Dunn’s legendary run in the 1990s.

“It’s been too long,” Vestavia Hills coach Jamie Harris said. “At the beginning of the year, we watched the good documentary they did on coach Dunn with all the memories, but there was one line at the end that didn’t sit well with our team. It said, ‘They haven’t won one since.’ That has been a rallying cry for us all season. Now we have.”

Dunn, who died in 2004 after a long battle with cancer, won nine state championships from 1991-2000. Twenty-three years later, the Rebels have another banner.

“I’m so happy for these boys,” Harris said. “Our senior was class was unbelievable. They’ve been a great class for four years. I can’t say enough good things about them. To have a senior who is coming to Jacksonville State throw a 1-hitter, the fact that my son (Jackson) is a senior, it just makes it that much more special.

“I’m so happy for these players and my coaching staff. We have four or five guys who are Vestavia graduates that played for coach Dunn. I just hope and think coach Dunn is looking down and smiling.”

Central took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the finale when Carson Gilley walked with the bases load. The Red Devils had just three base runners the rest of the way. Vermillion threw 119 pitches, striking out six and walking just two. Preston Bedford had Central’s lone hit against him.

“We rode him last week,” Harris said of Vermillion. “I think he threw 113 last week. That is why we held him out from yesterday, knowing that he needed another day’s rest. I didn’t tell him this, but there was no sense in him looking into the dugout tonight. He was throwing until his arm fell off. To throw a one-hitter in the state championship game is legendary.”

Vestavia scored two runs in the bottom of the second and added single runs in the fourth and sixth. Central committed errors in each of those innings and finished with four in the game. Grant Downey was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs for the Rebels.

“We were going to get it done no matter how long it took,” Harris said. “No matter how many outs we had to get, we were going to get it done. Sure, it’s not easy to sit around for four hours and watch it rain and not know. There is a lot of anxiety I’m sure that builds up in these young men, but they handled it like champs like they handled everything all year.”

In the first game of the day, Hunter Wippert’s bases-loaded, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh lifted Central to the win.

The Red Devils led 4-0 entering the seventh before Vestavia Hills batted around and scored four times to even it. The inning included a potential third-out pop fly that dropped on the infield. Vestavia’s William Tonsmeire singled in the tying run, but the go-ahead run was thrown out at the plate on the play.

With one out in the bottom half, Chris Kelly singled to right and Jax Yoxtheimer was safe on an error. After Colton Wombles flied out, Landon Beaver was intentionally walked before Wippert singled up the middle, just beyond the pitcher’s reach.

Wippert also got the win in relief. He pitched the final inning, allowing an unearned run on three hits. He also was 2-for-3 at the plate. Yoxtheimer started and allowed three unearned runs on three hits. He walked four and struck out five on 115 pitches.

Cannon Cherry, the second of three Vestavia pitchers, took the loss. Hudson Walburn, who also will play college baseball at Jacksonville State, had two hits for the Rebels.

Key stats from Thursday’s doubleheader: Vestavia Hills – Downey was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Will Cox was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Tonsmeire was 2-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI. Central-Phenix City – Wippert was the only player with more than one hit in the two games. He was 2-for-6. Brantley Rothrock started Game 3 and gave up three runs, only one earned, on four hits. He struck out four and threw 73 pitches.

Did you know? Central had a player ejected at or near the end of both games. Gilley was ejected as he went to the plate in the bottom of the seventh of Game 1. Emory Yohn was thrown out after taking called strike three for the final out of the series.

They said it:

“We haven’t lost two games (in a row) all year. That’s all we told them between games. ‘We haven’t lost two games all year, and we aren’t starting today.’” – Harris following a loss in Thursday’s first game.

“It’s been too long. We’ve been talking about this since October. We knew this team was special. We knew we could do it. The senior class is so special. This team has been everything.” – Vermillion.

“Vestavia has a great club. Our guys really handled adversity I thought well. The long delay, us being on Eastern time. It’s almost 2 in the morning for us, but our guys gutted it out and gave it their all. We came up short. Sometimes that happens.” – Central-Phenix City coach AJ Kehoe.

“This was a new club. We lost six starters from last year. For these guys to get back here I think speaks volumes. They came close. They gave them everything they wanted, and we just fell a little short.” – Kehoe.