By Connor Hawthorne, Staff Writer
As April comes to a close, the baseball season draws closer to the eventual climax of county tournaments. For the baseball team, however, that is still a long way off. As the pace of many games begins to ramp up in preparation for the tournaments, the athletes are just focusing on the games they have in front of them.
One of River Hill’s best performing sports teams this season has been our baseball team. Last year they performed extremely well, winning the county championships for the first time since 2016. With such high expectations to live up to, this season the pressure is on for the players who have taken over the team as last year’s seniors have moved on. Alex Toone, a varsity player explains that “It’s going good so far, we have a winning record,” and that “right now varsity is 7-3.” Despite their great record, Alex admits they have big shoes to fill. Since last year’s team was extremely senior heavy, very few players from last year’s country championship are playing this year. Alex explains that “We lost a lot of our core players and seniors from last year, so we’ve had to call up a lot of the younger guys from JV.” Having such a young team has presented its own challenges with Alex explaining that “Getting those guys integrated and ready, it’s been a bit of a challenge.” Despite their younger team, River Hill Baseball’s record speaks for itself, and Alex is hopeful that “We’re really starting to figure it out, so we have a shot at the state championship.”
With varsity baseball usually getting all the attention, one aspect of River Hill baseball less focused on is the JV team. With many sophmores pulled up to varsity, the JV team is extremely freshman heavy; however, despite their inexperience, they show promising talent. Jonathan Bloom, a sophomore, recounts the season so far. “In county play we are 7 and 1, hopefully 8 and 1 after today. The only team we’ve lost to is Mount Hebron, because they’re pretty good. Hopefully we’ll only have one loss.” With such a new team, their record is extremely impressive. Not all is good for JV baseball, though. Jonathan recounts that the frequency of the baseball games has been an issue for the team. “One challenge we’ve encountered has been keeping our energy up, especially when we’re playing three or four games a week, it’s hard to play at the top level every day.” Despite this, Jonathan is hopeful for the team. He explains that “My plan for the rest of the season is to keep playing it one day at a time and giving it everything I got.” Despite their challenges the JV baseball team is extremely promising. Jonathan confidently states that “Our team is pretty strong, we have a shot at states.”
As the eventual country tournaments approach, the baseball team is ready to try their best, and take a shot at county tournaments. Will varsity baseball be able to live up to the expectations? Does JV’s promising talent mean that future teams will be extremely strong? Only time will tell, but the baseball team is ready for anything the season throws at them!