BASEBALL & GIRLS TRACK

Senior Will Pettit pitches in a game against Michigan City on April 13. The boys won the game 8-0.

INKLINGS 29 Boys baseball cleans up game after missed 2020 season

BY SAMUEL BREWER co-sports editor

The boys baseball season, after a much longer break than ever expected, is finally back in full swing. Last year the team’s season was completely canceled due to COVID-19, meaning last year’s seniors were stripped of a season. Head coach Steve Strayer says that he took the loss of last season pretty hard.

“It was awful. It was one of my most talented teams and they were all great kids,” Strayer said.

Not only did this strip last year’s seniors of their season, it also stripped this year’s seniors and juniors of valuable (varsity) playing experience they would have gained last year. According to Strayer, that varsity experience was direly needed

“There are lots of problems. The main problem is hardly anyone has experience and we make mistakes over and over. Usually we have returning players with experience that act like assistant coaches to help eliminate many of these mistakes,” Strayer said.

One of the few players who did have varsity experience before this year is senior Cal Curiel. Curiel played on varsity his sophomore year, helping him lead the team this year.

“I feel like this being my second year playing varsity helps from an experience standpoint because I feel like I’m not as nervous before big games and that I can help be a leader on the team,” Curiel said.

One of the players who wasn’t given that experience was junior Ryan Hannan. Hannan says that he was excited for his sophomore season and was devastated when it was taken away.

“It was tough having my second high school season taken away from me. We practiced all winter getting prepared for the season and it was taken away just like that,” Hannan said.

According to Hannan, the cancellation helped drive him to the place he is today.

“ It made me want to come back and be even better. I didn’t stop when the season was canceled and continued to train and better myself while being quarantined. I remained doing bands, PlyoCare, hitting and throwing on the daily. I remained optimistic for the future,” Hannan said.

Even though Strayer has seen a lot of mistakes, Curiel is happy with how the team has dealt with the circumstances they were given.

“I think that the team has adapted great to not playing last year, mostly because we’re all friends and get along great with each other and through that we’re learning more and more everyday how to play together,” Curiel said.

Curiel believes that with hard work the team has the potential to make it far into the postseason.

“I feel like as a team we can make a strong postseason run if we continue to get better and everyone involved can do something to help the team during that run,” Curiel said.

The team will continue their season with their next game against Portage tomorrow at home at 4:30 p.m.

Girls track prepares for DAC meet after one regular season loss

BY NOAH THOMAS co-editor-in-chief

The girls track season is up and running with the team only suffering one loss this season. Head coach Allison Florek said she’s pleased with her team’s performance thus far, especially during these challenging times.

“The season has gone pretty well so far. In the DAC, we have beat Michigan City and Merrillville and we have lost to LC. Despite this being a crazy year, the athletes have continued to work hard at practice and at meets,” Florek said. “We are constantly stressing to the athletes that masks must be worn whenever they are not engaging in strenuous physical activity. We also are outside now which makes a huge difference. We also try to make sure that we are not congregating in enclosed places for long periods of time and we do our best to socially distance.”

Senior high jumper Grace Wells says that she is enjoying the fact she is getting a senior track season. According to Wells, she really enjoys the idea of doing everything she can for her team.

“Something I really love about field events is that it’s about working hard individually. Field events also score a lot of points in meets so it’s nice to know that whenever I place, I’m helping the team out a lot with our overall score,” Wells said. “It’s nice to be able to have a senior track season.”

Purdue commit senior Jaelyn Burgos suffered a knee injury before the season started and hasn’t been able to compete. Although she isn’t running, she continues to contribute by cheering on her teammates from the sidelines.

“I am completely out for the season and didn’t even get to race one race, but, I’m trying to stay positive about my situation and be the best cheerleader I can be for my team,” Burgos said. “I expect myself to continue hyping up the girls at meets and practice and I think the team can do some big things this postseason.”

Burgos cheering on her team represents an aspect important to every team: team chemistry. Florek thinks that even through the pandemic, the team has had great chemistry. Florek also believes that the upperclassmen play a big role in creating this chemistry.

“With such a big team, we really rely on our upperclassmen to help our new athletes. We expect a lot out of our juniors and seniors. Oftentimes, they help lead workouts and stretches. Most importantly we expect them to lead by example both on and off the track,” Florek said. “I expect to see them continue to lift each other up. We are constantly stressing the importance of celebrating each other’s accomplishments. I expect all athletes to show up, work hard, and most importantly be good teammates. I also expect them to do what it takes to stay healthy and injury free.”

According to Wells, she is ready to show up for her team. Her goal for the rest of the season is to work hard and see the best results for her final high school meets.

“From myself, I expect to give the last few meets my all because after high school I won’t get the opportunity to do track ever again. From the team , I expect everyone to work hard and give the last few weeks their all and leave it all on the track,” Wells said.

The girls will compete in the DAC meet Tuesday at Chesterton.