DAILY PILOT HIGH SCHOOL MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK:Williams finds resolve in baseball

The time came for Garrick Williams to clean out his locker.

His teammates went their separate ways. They grabbed their belongings and headed out of Costa Mesa High’s clubhouse on Tuesday.

The senior just sat on a bench, shocked that the season was over. Tears ran down his cheeks faster than he could scoot up the first-base line for an infield single.

Remember when he legged out that single in the sixth against cross-town rival Estancia, helping the Mustangs clinch a playoff spot in the regular-season finale?

John Rybarczyk, the biggest player on the team, came over to Williams. The 6-foot-3 senior patted the pitcher on the back and offered some encouraging words.

Whatever Rybarczyk said, it lifted the team leader’s spirit.

Williams stood up, wiped away those tears off his face with his hands, and walked away to talk about his career at Costa Mesa.

But before his high school baseball career ended with the Mustangs’ losing to visiting Loyola of Los Angeles, 11-1, in a wild-card game in the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs, Williams said it almost never started.

That’s right. The locker assigned to the most resilient Costa Mesa player could’ve been some other player’s.

As near as his locker is to the exit door, Williams was that close to walking out and leaving baseball. The game he began playing at 4, meant nothing to him going into his freshman year.

Confused, shaken, bitter, Williams said he felt it all. Williams said the news that his parents, Byron and Lisa, divorced when he was about 7 finally hit his doorstep.

“I never really understood,” Williams said. “My parents sat me down and talked to me about it. It kind of sucked in the beginning. I had a lot of family-related issues. It was tough.”

Things worsened for Williams. Baseball disappeared from his life.

He dabbled with basketball as a freshman, but chose to stick with his favorite sport, baseball. Thanks to his grandmother, Peggy Kimmes-Ernos.

Williams said Grandma, whom he lives with, would constantly tell him, “You want to quit something that you put so much time into?”

No. But all the energy left as soon as Williams said he began slacking toward the end of his freshman year. He said missed the last part of the season because he was academically ineligible.

The sophomore season came, resulting in no season. Same reason, he said he was academically ineligible.

“I wasn’t really thinking,” said Williams, adding that he split time living with his mother and father. “I was still going through hard times.”

So Williams said he skipped class. Why continue with school?

“I didn’t like school, I didn’t want to go anymore,” Williams said.

Soon friends began questioning Williams’ decisions. Williams said they’d say, “Dude, why don’t you go to school? This is fun over here. You get to hang out with all your friends. All you have to do is show up and you can get decent grades.”

School finally began making sense to Williams before his junior year. Grandma, his mom, his dad, his Godfather John Lee, his uncle Darryl Williams played vital roles.

The support, love, mentoring, and those Friday night conversations with Uncle Darryl, and some tutoring helped.

But all will say the most influential person pushing Williams would be his next baseball coach, Jim Kiefer.

Kiefer took over in the 2005-06 school year, looking to bring back the excitement to Costa Mesa baseball. The school’s last playoff appearance came in 2001, a long drought. To get back, Kiefer needed Williams.

Williams needed someone in baseball to believe in him again.

“Thank God Coach Kiefer came in,” Williams said. “He was the first person to get under my skin about grades. He said, ‘If you want to play, you’re going to have to get your grades up if you want to be a part of a great program.”

Great, the last best word to describe the Mustangs’ program. Because as Williams put it, “everyone knows Costa Mesa is not that great of a program.” Williams decided to do whatever it took to turn that around.

The grades were good enough to play his junior year. He pitched well, earning a 3.85 earned-run average, lowest on the team, and a 3-4 record. Costa Mesa finished 9-16 overall and 2-9 in the Golden West League.

The breakout year came as a senior, when it mattered. He was one of seven seniors. Battling in the thick of the new, four-team Orange Coast League, they found themselves late in the season in dire need of a rescue. Their playoff hopes were fading. Who better to save the Mustangs than the person who got himself out of trouble?

In a must-win situation to qualify for the postseason, Williams delivered against Estancia. The right-hander threw two scoreless innings of relief, led off the bottom of the sixth with an infield single, and came around to score the game-winning run, lifting Costa Mesa to a 7-5 victory that clinched the league’s second playoff berth.

His father, as he has been for every game he’s made from his Corona home, stood proud.

“He played Little League with a lot of those kids. His last year in Little League, he kind of got what was called a raw deal back then,” said Byron, referring to Williams receiving limited playing time on a team. “It was nice seeing him get a little revenge. I have to admit, it was sweet.”

Just being able to play again was good enough for Williams.

Leading Costa Mesa to a 15-12 record, his stats (4-6, an ERA around 4.00, 55 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings, four complete games), are just numbers to Williams.

The photos Grandma took during the season will be the lasting memories.

Grandma gave her daughter, Williams’ mom, a photo album of Williams, from his Little League career to his last game before Mother’s Day. You can’t beat that gift.

“That was just the best thing in the world,” said Lisa of the album with 112 pages filled with photos and newspaper articles. “It has tremendous memories. Something I can show his little [3-year-old brother [Jacob]. He started T-ball this year. Garrick’s out there with him, helping him out on the field.”

Williams is instilling that no quit attitude.

That attitude is why Williams said he’ll graduate on time before heading to Orange Coast College to hopefully play and continue his education.

“He’s come a long way, and to be a guy that we were counting on, he pitched some big games for us this year,” Kiefer said. “I’m proud of him. He’s been through a lot. Just his guts and performances throughout the year helped us get to this spot.”

Williams left it all on the field. Now he can shut the door on his locker knowing he accomplished a lot.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.