As the pitchers are dusting off the mound and the team’s tying up their cleats, McHenry is getting pumped up for their beloved baseball season.
As the season has slowly started to unfold, the players are getting ready to turn their practices into game time. Sophomore Jackson Hatfield talks about their training schedule for this year.
“We’ve been working on the little things and cleaning up so those don’t come back to bite us in season,” said Hatfield. “It’s simple things that come back to bite you and games to make you lose. And we’ve just been cleaning those up. So we are preparing for a long season.”
With the new field put in place players are talking about how easy it will be to grab a bat and go.
“It’s a lot easier. We don’t have to travel for practice games,” said senior Owen Micklinghoff. “Even home games last year, we had to drive and this year’s gonna be nice.”
Senior Jack Stecker talks about the advantages of having a field right on our school’s property.
“It’s nice,” said Stecker. “It’s way better than our old field. Much nicer to slide on, much nicer in general.”
Having goals and making them happen is a big part of sports, especially mentally.
“I’m just not thinking too much, not getting in my head too much, and just trusting my abilities and all my hard work in the offseason to have it pay off,” said Hatfield.
These boys have their heads set on heading back to state just like our 22’ team, the coaches are said to be pushing them in that right direction.
“Yeah, they’re tough,” said Stecker. “I get it because obviously state, they want to go back, so they’re gonna be tough.”
Memories happen on and off the plates and for this player, the most memorable thing was his sophomore team.
“I’d say my favorite part throughout high school is definitely sophomore year the team that went to state,” said Micklinghoff. “It was just cool being on that team. Team was really close. That group was closer than any team I’ve ever been on before.”
Not only is the varsity team confident in their playing, the Frosh team is also excited to see how far they can get in this year’s conference lineup.
“I think we have a pretty stacked team on both sides,” said Hatfield. ”I think if we play to our abilities we will be the best in the conference.”
With strong spirits on the team and confident players, McHenry is definitely keeping an eye out on these players. Good luck to all of the baseball teams.