JV Baseball Shocking Turnaround

MaxPreps Student Section

The 2011 Faith Christian (Grapevine, Texas) JV baseball team, a young and inexperienced team, appeared to have no chance at competing. After a 0-4 start this season, the team made a miraculous turnaround going 4-0 to start district and finishing district play 5-3 and the season12-15. Head JV Coach Michael Roye discussed his players' performance and prospects for next year.

The players did not get to play any pre-season scrimmages and lost their two top freshmen to the Varsity team. "I think that contributed to our slow start. We tried quite a few different lineups early in the year in order to experiment with people playing various positions, and we were also trying to figure out where each player would help the team the most in the batting order. After a couple of weeks, the coaches had a better idea of who could do what, and the players also started to understand their roles on the team better."

The team competed due to their, "…desire to improve and continue working all year. This team never gave up when it would have been easy to do so in the face of adversity. Pitching was one of our strengths for most of the season. When our pitching was good, throwing strikes & limiting walks, we usually had a chance to win the game." The team had key producers in every area that led to a second place finish in district play: "Brandon Selph, Will Taylor, Zach Postema, and Hunter Chastain all did a great job pitching this year. Michael Orr and Brian Ogden were standout defensive players all year. Josh Music, Lawton Anderson, and William Deal were all very productive offensively."

Different from most baseball programs, Faith strives to develop leaders and share the Gospel through the game of baseball rather than just win games. This year was considered successful because certain players improved and grew in leadership. "Michael Orr, Caleb Templeton, and Ben Osigian had never played the game before this year, and all of them made huge improvements throughout the season, and Lawton Anderson, Hudson Holmes, and Brandon Selph all displayed good leadership throughout most of the year." Faith displayed its character when they played Grace Prep Academy. After one of their players slid in spikes up, he walked across the field to Grace Prep's dugout and apologized to the players, coaches, and umpires.

JV baseball is designed to develop future players for the Varsity level. In order to get to that point, Roye believes, "Hitting and fielding are both areas where our JV players need tons of improvement. For most players this year, their defensive skills were a little ahead of their hitting ability. So, everyone needs more hitting practice between now and next season." However Roye said this of players with the potential to play Varsity: "Coaches don't put much stock in potential. We are interested in players who produce results when it counts. All of our starters this year have good potential, but those who continue to work the hardest will become our best players in the years to come. "