High School Baseball

By the time I got to high school I had already had some experience against other high school players. Over the summer before I came to high school, Mr. Layden, the coach for the team, said I could come play summer ball with the team. I played about ten games with the team. The whole time I played I never got a hit, I put the ball in play almost every at bat but I could never get an actual hit. That just gave me more motivation once the actual season came around.

                My freshman year was a great year, I don’t know all my statistics for that year because I played junior varsity most of the season. The might be one reason why it was good. One game, against Winslow, I pitched the whole game. I gave up seventeen runs and three home runs, but that didn’t matter because my team had my back. We took the lead in the bottom of the sixth when I hit a triple with the bases loaded and all three guys on base scored. We ended up winning the game by one, 18-17.

                My sophomore year I had to earn a spot on varsity or play JV again, and I didn’t want to play JV again. So I worked my butt off during tryouts and got the starting shortstop position. I didn’t have the best start to the season hitting, but finally, against St. Johns, I got my first hit. That wasn’t enough though, because at the very end of the game we were losing 7-1 with only one at bat left. We got two quick outs, but then the three guys in front of me got on base. I got a hit up the middle and two guys scored. We went on to tie the game, and in the bottom of the eight, Austin hit a walk off home run and we won the game. That game turned our season around, and soon we were Region Champions. The last region champs too, because now there’s not regional’s anymore. After that was the state tournament. We won our first two games and earned ourselves a trip back the next weekend to play in the final four. We played in the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers spring training stadium. The field was so big, but that didn’t matter we still played as hard as we could, but it was all for not, as we ended up losing 3-2. A heart breaker.  

                Junior year was really fun, I had gotten stronger in the offseason and I was hitting the ball a lot harder. But I didn’t get to start playing until the third game of the season because I broke my foot in basketball. But that didn’t slow me down one bit, in my first at bat I hit the first pitch off the fence in right center for a double. I was off on the right foot and I wasn’t about to slow down.

                The highlight of the season was beating Chino Valley, the #3 ranked team in the second round of the state tournament. One of the greatest games I have ever been a part of.  

Baseball Before High School

The first time I ever played baseball that I remember, was when I was four. It was in tee ball. We played every team twice, and even though we weren’t supposed to we always kept score. There was one team that we always had tough competition with them. It was pretty much a rivalry game between the two best teams. The games were close but my team always on each year because we had the best coach. Of course my coach was my dad. He is the one that taught me pretty much everything I know about baseball.

            In coach pitch, my team was really good; there was only one kid that challenged us. He always would hit home runs. One time I robbed one of his home runs and his mom came on the field yelling at the coaches because they said he was out, and then she came and started yelling at me because I caught the ball. So I just walked away.

            Then we went on to the minor league, we only played for one year there. My team was undefeated for the whole season. Then we got to our last game. It was real close the whole time, then in the last inning we were up by two. I was pitching, and a bigger kid came up to bat. He hit the first pitch I threw to the fence in right center. He ran all the way around the bases for an inside the park home run. There were two kids on the bases too, so we lost by one run. Our undefeated season was gone.

            After the minor league we went up to Little League, I played for three years there. When I was ten, I thought it was the coolest thing, when I was playing center field when Ilacian came up to bat. He hit a ball so high in the air and I ran right up close to the fence and caught it. I felt like I was so awesome because I caught his ball. The highlight of my career was when I was on the all-star team for Holbrook. We were losing by two runs in the top of the sixth and I came up to bat with two guys on base. Then, I hit the first home run I had ever hit. RJ, my teammate, smacked me on the head so hard my ears were ringing, but it was all worth it in the end.

            Next, was Junior League. The field was so much bigger and I was still just a small kid, so I could barely hit the ball out of the infield. But, I had a bunch of good player on my team so all I did was walk when I came up to bat, then they would hit me around to score. My favorite play form Junior League was in all stars against Show Low. Ryan hit the go ahead home run in the top of the seventh. He was only fourteen years old and he hit a home run at Blue Ridge’s field. That field is not small at all.

           After Junior League came high school ball. I think I was prepared well for that.