By: Theodore Do and Devyn Nguyen
The Varsity Baseball team has entered its season with a record of four wins, 10 losses, and one tie, according to Junior Matthew Clarke. The team started its season strong, placing first in their annual Michael De Jesus Classic Tournament, but lost in their recent games, both league and non-league games, Clarke continued.
There have not been considerable changes to the team this year, Clarke said. However, the team is less balanced than previous years, having less pitchers and left-handed players on their Varsity team, he said.
Still, the team still has its pride in its players’ strengths, Clarke added. The team has been just as good defensively this year as the last, he continued. While they have improvements to make, Clarke hopes the team will enjoy itself throughout the season, Clarke said.
“My hope for the team this year is to get as far as we can and win CCS while having a good time playing together all the way.” Clarke said.
The Junior Varsity boys, on the other hand, has not gained any wins yet, according to Sophomore James Westfall. There have been a change of coaches and leadership this year, he added. To improve, Westfall would like to see the team have a better attitude and communication, he said.
“Everyone needs to communicate better, whether it’s within two people or within the whole team,” Westfall said. “Everyone needs to be enthusiastic.”
Clarke has been playing baseball for about nine years, Clarke said. The sport helps him escape from the stress in school, he continued.
“Accomplishing something in this sport is rewarding, whether it’s catching a hard fly ball in the outfield, or hitting a clutch base hit to tie the game, or striking a guy out,” Clarke said. “I love baseball because it’s exciting to watch and to be a part of.”
Baseball has also allowed players to develop a hobby and a strongly knit group of teammates, Clarke said. Baseball is a hard sport to learn, so most of the players on the team have generally grown up with one another, he explained.
“Many kids who play baseball have played it for as long as me,” Clarke said. “We all get along really well, because we’ve basically been teammates for a big portion of our lives, from Little League to high school.”
Similarly, Westfall has played baseball since he was nine years old, Westfall said. It changed his life, as he was able to meet new people and gain leadership skills, he said. In addition, it allowed him to get in better shape and develop additional life skills, such as public speaking, he continued.
“I’ve become a lot more of a vocal person, [and now] I am not afraid to voice my concerns,” Westfall said. “I’ve become a team player as well because when we’re on the field, we’re working with nine guys.”
The strictness of the baseball season went down compared to last year, Westfall said. Compared to the previous season, the current season has a more easygoing coach, he added. Although the new coach is more laid-back than the previous coach, the amount of work getting done is still the same, Westfall said.
“Last year, we had a more strict coach and we got our work done,” Westfall said. “This year, we have a little more laid-back coach, but we’re still getting our work done.”
Westfall hopes that during the current season, the baseball team can get better at what they do while doing the best that they can, Westfall said. Westfall wants the JV team to get as good as possible before they eventually go onto Varsity, he said.