Adeline Harper

Members of the freshman baseball team watch from the dugout. The freshman team consists of 17 8th graders and only 2 freshmen, which is the most middle schoolers the team has had. The shared goal of the team is to improve their skills to play for JV or varsity in the future.

As more young boys who grow up around the school watch the varsity team and practice to play as a Panther some day, a legacy has been established. 

“Some of these kids playing ninth grade baseball for us now have been around here forever,” baseball coach Taylor Sweeney said. “They’ve been fans of Starr’s Mill their whole lives, because they’ve been at Peeples and Rising Starr.”

With 17 out of the 19 players being 8th graders on the team this year, which is more than ever before, the team’s goals are not about winning, but adapting. 

“It takes them a while to get them to get used to being here every day, and even the kids that play a lot of baseball during the summer and fall, they don’t practice that much,” Sweeney said. “In high school, you’re here every day.”

The transition from playing baseball for fun to playing to compete at a high school level involves a lot more practice and improvement among all of the teammates. 

“I feel like the intensity is a little different,” starting center fielder Braden Burkhalter said. 

The freshman baseball team helps ease this transition and sharpen baseball skills that will be used to play on the junior varsity and varsity teams. 

“We want them to get better and move through the program and be good players on the varsity team,” Sweeney said. “Everyday after school we’re in there hitting, we’re throwing, doing all of that stuff.”

The ninth grade boys baseball team has five wins so far this season. The team has gradually improved over time and has been making fewer errors on defense.

“It’s about how they play more so than the wins and losses,” Sweeney said. “I have guys I can rely on. They’re in there to do a good job and everybody’s working hard and doing better and being more competitive, and it’s gone well lately.”

There will be two more freshman baseball games this Saturday to wrap up the season at home against Whitewater. 

The varsity baseball team has already earned the region championship, and their current record is 18-2. Their next game will be at Whitewater this Friday.