Losing assistant coach Tim Welch during the season hurt Westwood baseball’s team in more ways than one.

First and foremost, Westwood’s baseball family lost a beloved member. Four-year head coach J.R. Langston lost his friend of 18 years.

And the players lost one of their biggest advocates. On April 11, the 57-year-old Welch passed away from congestive heart failure.

Welch, Langston’s bench coach and football assistant when they were coaching football, had a knack for sharing his words of wisdom at the right time. When he died, Westwood’s tight-knit team understandably lost its voice and way, struggling on the field.   

The team, however, regrouped as a more united front. That bond has helped them during a playoff run Westwood baseball hasn’t experienced since this year’s players were likely in diapers.

As the No. 19th seed, Westwood is the highest playoff seed still remaining in the Division II state tournament and is two wins away from its first title game appearance since 1967.

But this isn’t a Cinderella story. Westwood and its coaches vowed to compete for a state title when Langston, a Mesa High alum and former Arizona State football player, took over four years ago.

Its next big test arrives on Saturday when it plays its fourth playoff team from Tucson, Ironwood Ridge, in a winners’ bracket game at Maryvale Baseball Park. Welch will not be there, but his spirit lives on.

Westwood’s player inscribed ‘TW’ on their caps, and the team is renaming its baseball Warrior award after Welch.

“He (Welch) was a true friend,” Langston said. “I miss my buddy. He was a guy who can rib you. His sense of humor was great. He was sharp as a tack.

“He was a true friend.”