Whoever does Callicutt’s laundry probably didn’t appreciate his exuberance, but you couldn’t blame the guy for wanting to take some of West’s ballfield home with him after he led the Falcons to a 6-5 win over Piedmont (8-7 SPC) and a likely spot in the 3A state playoffs.

Callicutt, prior to his Pigpen impression, singled, doubled, stole a base and made a great seventh-inning catch in right field. Oh yeah, and he also hit what proved to be the game-winning homer in the fifth. His bomb broke a 5-5 deadlock and just might wreck the year for Piedmont coach Milt Flow, whose team started the year ranked No. 2 in 3A.

West (11-9, 9-7) stands third in today’s South Piedmont Conference standings and will be the league’s No. 3 seed for the upcoming conference tournament, provided league champion East Rowan beats Kannapolis (8-7SPC) next Wednesday. If the Wonders upset the Mustangs, however, professors from M.I.T. may have to be called in to figure out the third-place tiebreaker between West and Empsy Thompson’s back-from-the-dead squad. Harding or Piedmont could also finish 9-7, but the Falcons hold the tiebreaker against those teams by virtue of a win over East.

Owning the No. 3 seed in a league that gets three playoff berths is no lock, of course. West could still get bumped if someone below them wins the SPC tourney. Still, you have to like the odds of East (especially at Staton Field), second-place Central Cabarrus or West winning that tournament.

West hadn’t played in forever going into Friday night, but coach Chris Cauble didn’t waste his down-time. He spent many practice moments with his team in the stands, gazing out on the West diamond and discussing how long it had been since the Falcons had been involved in a playoff game.

“I told them,” said Cauble, “that the Piedmont game would be the biggest game a West team had played in three years.”

The motivational message hit home with Callicutt.

“Not one of us had been to the playoffs,” he said. “We wanted it bad. We wanted to be in there.”

Cauble agreed that Callicutt’s decisive drive over the 358-foot marker in dead center was the team’s biggest swing of the season. The lefty hit the blast off lefty pitcher Nick Rushing, capping a 3-for-3 night against southpaws.

“Every time he’d shaken off a sign, he’d thrown a curveball,” said Callicutt. “He shook the catcher off, I looked curve and he hung it. I hit it good.”

Callicutt got a curve because he hit two homers off Piedmont fireballer Scott Manshack’s fastballs when West lost to the Panthers 5-4 on the road this year. Callicutt has hit all three of his homers this season against Piedmont. The Panthers got him out once in 2000.

But Callicutt was merely the most amazing guy on an amazing team that has rallied from four straight heartbreaking, midseason losses.

“A lot of people gave up on us then, but we didn’t quit on ourselves,” said Cauble.

Cauble said it was East coach Jeff Safrit, whom he assisted for many years, who kept him going when the tough losses were stacking up like planes in a busy airport.

“Jeff told me to keep my head up, that we could lose seven and still wind up third.”

Safrit might be right. And he was in the stands last night, so maybe he’s Cauble’s good luck charm. Wonderful things happened.

Sophomore second baseman Justin Graham entered the game batting .158. He left it at .220 after the finest game of his young career.

He made all the plays and went 3-for-3. Drew Covington got his first hit of the year, and made it a big one. Cory Ruff, hitting under .200 at game-time, drove in a key run. And Ryan Schenk, usually an infielder, made a sweet throw from center to cut down a base runner.

Lady Luck reversed herself most of all for West’s Jared Barnette, who’s been on the mound when the majority of the Falcons’ unkind bounces have occurred. How else can you explain an ERA of 2.92 and five losses? Barnette relieved Josh Overcash (it’s usually the other way around) and got the win by hurling one-hit ball over the last three innings.

That one hit was a pinch-hit double by Randall Poplin in the seventh that missed leaving the yard by no more than a yard. Unruffled, Barnette ended the game with a curve-in-the-dirt strikeout.

“Barnette closed the door,” said Cauble. “And Josh battled them tough for four (innings) even though he didn’t have his good stuff. He’s a senior and I told him that tonight the ball was his.”

The pivotal moment, besides Callicutt’s clout, was the way West went to work for five runs in the first in response to Piedmont’s right-off-the-bat three-spot.

“They jumped right on us. We could have crawled back to the dugout and given up,” said Cauble.

But Callicutt singled in Ben Hampton and Shawn Trosper to make it 3-2. Then Ruff singled to tie the game. After Barnette walked, Covington singled and Graham poked a two-out pitch to right to score two runs for a 5-3 Falcon lead.