Hornets seek identity as district play opens
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

Only a few hours away from opening district play, Louise Head Baseball Coach Josh Curtis was taking care of the field.

Monday's rain made the ground moist as the Hornets were preparing to host Fayetteville in only their sixth game of the year. The final result was a 22-1 loss, but the promise of progress is on the horizon for the Hornets.

A team comprised of two seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and two freshmen means loads of inexperience on the varsity level and plenty of time to learn. The 1-5 Hornets are making strides toward becoming the team they want to be - a post-season contender.

First comes the love of the game.

"Our goal is, just like any sport, it's always to make the playoffs," Curtis said. "I told them before the year started that we're going to have fun. That's the first thing we're going to do.

"When you start having fun, then kids start playing a little more relaxed and things become easier for them. If they just focus on having fun, then I think everything else will fall into place with them being a young team."

Solid hitting is already in place. As a team, the Hornets were batting .417 going into Monday's game. Pitching seems to be working as well.

Next is consistency with the gloves. "We've just got to find our groove defensively," Curtis said. "We've got to start playing better defense. I think once the kids realize that they can play at the varsity level and play good defense, they'll be all right. As long as we keep putting the ball in play, things are going to happen for us. We've got to get better defensively and that's what we've been focusing on."

The team needs to be able to see the field and communicate with each other in every play in order to step up on defense. Many coaches say repetition in practice will take care of defensive woes. Curtis knows he has athletes with the ability to make outs, the problem is comfort on the most intense level of high school ball.

"We're getting to the ball fine," the coach said. "It's just young kids get nervous. As soon as they get rid of their first-year jitters of being on varsity, I think we're going to be fine. Kids are getting to the ball and the outfield is just not calling it and two kids run toward each other. Ground balls are sometimes taking a bad hop and sometimes not. As soon as we get better defensively, we're going to be OK."

Before Monday's game, Curtis was hopeful the change would come against Fayetteville Monday. It did not.

Eventually, the Hornets will have enough games behind them where they have solid baseball experience and confi- dence in their skills. It could come soon.

"We've only played five games (before Fayetteville)," Curtis said. "Only having two seniors on your varsity, that's not very many games for young guys to get thrown into the varsity-level mix. They played JV last year and they were on the same level as everybody. Now they see they're going to have to step their game up like everybody else.

"I hope it starts tonight. We've got to do our best to start off district 1-0. I told our kids, 'We've got to do everything we can to win all our home games in district and steal a couple on the road and give ourselves a chance to see if we can make a run at the playoffs.'"

The Hornets still have five home games left in district play and 11 total contests ahead of them - plenty of time to address issues.

Through the entire district, Curtis said the champion should be clear, but he puts his team in the race to claim either second or third place and a playoff spot.

"Shiner is always Shiner," he said. "They're going to be good. Flatonia is good, Burton is good, Fayetteville is good and then you've got Round Top and Moulton. Traditionally, Shiner, Fayetteville and Flatonia come out, but I think it's a toss up this year. Shiner is going to be Shiner. They've got most of their kids back. For everybody else, I think it's a toss up.

"It's protect your home field, try to steal a couple on the road and play good defense. I told our kids, 'I would love to win games 2-0 or 3-0 instead of 15-14 because if we can keep it close, I think it's to our advantage.' I don't know how it's going to stack up. A lot of teams lost a lot of kids and we're the same way. You've just got to play hard and go out every day."

Helping to lead Louise's attempt at the playoffs is a solid infield.

"On first base is Kyle Tegeler. "He's a senior and I like having him there because he's got varsity experience. He can do the bunt coverages and get people lined up and things like that." At second base is Jonathan Pesina, a sophomore in his first year of varsity baseball.

"Shortstop is Clint Blaha and Matthew Blumrick when Blaha is pitching. Blaha played left field last year on the varsity.

"At third base is Matthew Blumrick and Wesley Branscum. When Branscum's not playing third he's pitching.

"Behind the plate again this season is Matthew Blumrick and Trey Koudela. "So as you can see, Blumrick is our utility player. If Trey is pitching, he catches. If Blaha's pitching, he plays shortstop and sometimes he plays third," Curtis said.

The outfield is comprised of play makers and quick sprinters.

"In left field, I've got a freshman, Joe Holik," Curtis said. "I'll tell you what, in five games, Joe Holik has come around a lot. He realized that when you get in varsity, kids are bigger and stronger and they hit the ball a whole lot farther than what he's used to.

"Against Van Vleck (Feb. 29), he made a heck of a catch and I'm still talking about it today. He was running backwards, he jumped and it was over his head and he made a catch. That's pretty cool to see a freshman do that. At center field, I've got Chris Hicks. He's our speedster. He gets to everything. In right field is Jacob Teets and he's a junior."

The promise for Louise may be in its future. The Hornets will only lose a pair of seniors this year, but for now the team will try to face opponents with hopes of making noise this season.

Maybe still, the first-year varsity members will acquire great confidence and meld together as a team with mighty potential in 2009. Through the Hornets' trials this year and with their desire to win, by next season experience should be a strength.

"If our kids will stay together and keep having fun, we'll see what we can do next year," Curtis said. As you can see, we're going to have a lot of kids coming back."