Thinking Men
Bronco Baseball Advances to Area
Launch the media gallery 1 player“You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time. You’ve got to know where to throw it, you’ve got to know where to hit it.”
Baseball is often referred to as the thinking man’s game and junior catcher Bryce H agrees.
And this season, the Broncos have a lot of thinking going on. Going 15-7 for the season and 9-1 for district, they became the clear district winners with two games left in district play. This resulted in a bye for bi-district before they face their first opponents in the Area round.
The pivotal game was the second time against Memphis where they won a decisive 15-2 victory and clinched the first place seed.
The district championship came as no surprise to Coach Brad Elam. He and his players’ expectations have been high from the beginning and when asked he expressed a single belief.
“We would be young but capable of winning district,” Elam stated.
With only two seniors playing this year, the Broncos are a young team. One of those young players is freshman and middle infielder Andy D. For him, there have been valuable lessons learned this year as a varsity player including the need to step up his game from summer leagues. Part of that transition has been realizing that every position on the field makes the plays.
“Every individual is important and you need everybody for the team,” Andy explained. “In baseball you never know who the ball is going to go to. It’s just here and there and everybody has to make the play, no matter what position you’re at. When it comes down to it, you need every single player that’s on the field to perform their best for the team.”
But even though the team is young, they have been playing together for many years thanks to Little League and summer leagues.
“The guys that we’ve had we’ve been playing with each other in baseball for years now. So we have the talent and the communication and everybody together to play our best on the field,” Andy added.
The players also share a love for the game. While both Andy and Bryce play other sports, they put baseball at the top.
And the thing they like the best? The slower pace of baseball.
“It’s more laid back, relaxing to play. Football is uptight. I like it, but baseball is just kind of easy going,” Bryce said.
And as for the district, players and coaches are excited about the championship.
“It feels good, it always feels good to be a winner,” added Andy D. “Glad to be district champions and represent your school.”