The name may not stay the same, but Tom McCarty’s career path continues to follow in some familiar footsteps.
He started at Mingus Union High School as “Tommy,” then grew into “Tom,” before becoming Thomas McCarty after being named to the all-Division II first team and the Section V Player of the Year.
“It’s always been Thomas,” McCarty said. “I’ve got to go with the name on my birth certificate.”
He will follow the name on an earlier birth certificate, attempting to beat out four other freshmen to start at shortstop at Paradise Valley Community College — just like his brother, Shaun, a two-time MUHS state champion shortstop.
“He got first team all-State and all-Section, but he never got section Player of the Year,” McCarty said. “The highest I got before this was all-section honorable mention, so I don’t know — something just happened. Going from that to playing in an all-star game was a dream come true.”
McCarty ended his senior season tied atop the divisional leaderboard with 43 runs batted in — helped by his three home runs that were second-most in the section.
“I couldn’t even tell you how I did it,” he said. “I guess the wind was blowing out on the right days for home runs.”
He blew up in his final season to score a section-leading 35 runs off of a .556 batting average, tying the MUHS record for triples in a season with eight.
For the full story and more photos, please see the Wednesday, July 22, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
