Alumni game set for LHS
By KRIS BAGLEY sports@leader-news.com

Friday is set for one big party at Louise. And it's all about baseball.

Louise is preparing for its second annual Alumni Baseball Game.

Scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, the event will be filled with several ways for fans to get involved. The festivities may even begin a little earlier.

"It's going to be a fun game," Head Coach Josh Curtis said. "We're going to have dizzy-bat races, stuff for kids and a home run derby before the game. It's a time to have fun with the community and let the people who graduated come back and play a little bit.

"The home run derby is fun and it gets everybody involved. Anybody can do the home run derby. We even got the softball pitching machine out last year and let the girls and moms get involved in it."

Along with games for everyone, the Hornets know their opponent will not back down easily. The varsity team will face a squad filled with former Hornets and Louise graduates.

The alumni bring a strong challenge for the Hornets.

"They're going to be one of the toughest teams on our schedule," Curtis said. "They're going to have so many guys and so much depth. We're going to have to play our best and it's going to be fun for our kids.

"We're taking it as one of the most important games of our season. We want to beat the alumni team probably more than they want to beat us. We're going to pull all the stops out and do what we can to win it."

The event began in the 2007 season with Mark Stevens, the team's former head coach, heavily promoting it. With Stevens as the school's current athletic director, Curtis said the game should be a mainstay at Louise for years to come.

"We're going to keep this going as long as we can," Curtis said. "The kids who graduate love it. As long as I'm here and as long as Coach Stevens is here, I know it will just keep going on and on. Hopefully, it will get bigger and there will be more things we can incorporate to it."

The entire night will be a celebration of baseball and of Hornet spirit. It will provide the perfect break while the team prepares for its final game of the season Monday at home against Shiner.

"We like having fun playing baseball and the Louise community loves baseball, so we like incorporating things with them to keep everything going and keep having fun," Curtis said. "We want to get the kids involved between innings so it's not just a normal game, but have a little more fun. I hope that the community comes out and enjoys it."