JV players congratulate sophomore Kyle Vanlue after his steal to home. Photo by: Ashley Combs
By Ashley Combs
PHS spring sports are off and running and this year’s baseball team is ready to start their season. With six senior players and 10 boys with no varsity experience, this year’s team is unpredictable.
Many PHS baseball players love the sport and have been playing as long as they can remember. Junior Connor Flynn explains, “ I have been playing baseball since I was around three years old. Ever since I was little I’ve loved it. [I enjoy baseball] probably because of the thrill of getting a good hit and making a good play, but besides that, it’s America’s favorite past time as well as my own!” Sophomore Doug Andrews says, “ I like it because it is warm out and I love the sport.” Fellow players Hayden Skirvin, Michael Bailey, and Kyle Vanlue all agree that they love the sport as well. Winning and “paying great as a team,” as Skirvin says, makes their passion for baseball even stronger.
Captains are expected to be good leaders and set examples for those who are below them. This year’s seniors have years of experience and are ready to step up to the plate and be leaders. The captain’s for the varsity team are the seniors Damon Howe, Kyle Cartwright, Richy Luva, Houston Hodges, Mitch Good, and Phil Iwinski. Luva says, “My goals for this season are to leave a good example for the underclassmen, and I’m going to give it everything on the field.” Many of the players have been training year-round and others have been conditioning for a few months. “We have some experience coming back, but we will have many new faces in the line up as well,” says Coach Gene Skirvin. All of the players’ hard work has paid off so far against Triton and South Bend Central. To keep winning and accomplish Coach Plothow’s goals of beating their rival Warsaw, winning sectionals, and competing for a conference championship, hard work will be crucial.
The coaches have been working hard to get their team ready for the rest of the season that lies ahead, and with 18 players on the varsity team and 23 on JV, that can be a challenge. This year’s coaches for varsity are Josh Dietz, Dave Howe, Gene Skirvin, Dean Colvin, and Tony Plothow. John Premetz, Scott Michael, and Rich Cartwright are the coaches for JV. Varsity coach Skirvin says that he enjoys baseball because he “likes to help and watch young people grow and mature into great adults.” His goal for this season is to be sectional champions and to achieve this goal he says that they will need to have “hard work and develop a team chemistry.”
Baseball is a physical sport, but it is also mental. Coach Plothow says, “I enjoy watching players prepare to compete, and I enjoy the mental part of baseball.” In many sports one needs to be prepared mentally because at times if he or she doesn’t “give it everything on the field” as Richy Luva says, then the outcome that one wants to see, won’t give him or her the satisfaction that is expected. Pitchers Andrews, Vanlue, Bailey, Skirvin, and Luva enjoy the position of pitcher because they are “always involved.” Pitchers need to be prepared mentally for what they are expecting to happen next and how they are going to strike out the hitter.
The first game for junior varsity (JV) was Friday, April 1, and varsity’s was Tuesday, April 5. JV played Triton to start their season and won with a score of 12 to 10. South Bend Central was varsity’s first opponent and they also won with a score of 14 to 10. The season ends May 25th, and sectionals are set to begin May 26th versus South Central.