Jensen gets another state title, this time as the coach

Central Catholic baseball coach Tyler Jensen has come full circle.
Jensen was a senior on the 2005 Eagles squad that beat Dunham, 6-2, in Alexandria for the second of two straight Class 1A baseball titles. Jensen completed the feat again as the Central Catholic head coach Saturday and restored the Eagles at the top of Class 1A as a coach with Saturday’s 8-7 victory against Oak Grove at McMurry Park in Sulphur.
Saturday’s state title was the first for the Eagles since that 2005 season.
It also ended a streak of four consecutive appearances in the Class 1A state tournament without a state championship.
Jensen, who has compiled a 122-33 record in five seasons as Central Catholic’s coach with five state tournament appearances and three finals berths, wanted to talk more about his team than himself when it came to how the experience felt.
“I told them today: There’s not a much better feeling than this as a high school athlete,” Jensen said Saturday. “This is the top, and as a player, I won three of them, and I know how great that feeling feels. As coach, it’s great, OK, but this is about those guys. This is about the feeling they’re feeling. This is something they’ll remember the rest of their life, and I’m so happy for them. I can’t express how happy I am for these guys.”
Jensen said the satisfaction of winning a state title as a coach differs than from a player.
“It’s really not about how it feels for me,” he said. “I look at those seniors. They’ve been at it for four state tournaments, and a lot of heartbreak. … It’s kind of like watching your (own) kids succeed and reach their ultimate goal,” said Jensen, a father-to-be.
Senior Samuel Guarisco, a four-year starter who drove in the game’s winning run in the bottom of the seventh, said it was great to finally finish the season with a victory.
“It feels amazing to finally get that last win of the season and go out my senior year,” said Guarisco, the winning pitcher and Class 1A Outstanding Player.