After last year’s heartbreaking loss to Jacksonville in the 6A state championship game, the Searcy Lions baseball squad has begun preparations for a new season with a new group of players. Tryouts began taking place the week after students returned from their Thanksgiving holiday, and practice begins as soon as the final team is set.
Tryouts will be a tad different this time around, however. Last year’s Lion team, which made it all the way to the state finals for the third season in a row, was full of older players with plenty of experience on a varsity level. The team boasted twelve seniors total, eight of which were full time starters. Three of these seniors went on to play baseball at the collegiate level, and one was drafted in the Major League Baseball draft in the second round by the Cleveland Indians. Needless to say, there was no shortage of talent.
This year, the team has only two players with extensive varsity experience and only four seniors. So the question is, what should the expectations be going into a new season with a whole different team?
Surely the Lions will have to play a different type of baseball than they played last year, when they relied on towering physical specimens with pure talent to carry the team deep into the playoffs. That will likely not be the case this year, considering the lack of experience. The talent is there, but not in the excessive amounts that the team boasted in previous seasons. It is more likely that they will have to play a version of “small ball,” relying more on hustle and grit than raw ability.
It is tough to find an accurate expectation for this year’s squad. Their conference, the 6A East, is full of talented teams with returning starting players. Jacksonville, last year’s state champion, returns their two best pitchers from last year. Mountain Home also returns their number one pitcher, who has already signed to play baseball with the University of Arkansas in one year. The Lions have only two pitchers with varsity experience of over 15 innings, both of which are juniors.
With all of this being said, I expect a successful season from the Lions. Yes, I am one of the seniors on the team, but no, I am not one to have unrealistic expectations simply because I am a part of the team. I realize that this year will be very different from last year, but I believe we have more kids who are willing to hustle and earn their spots than ever before. We feel like we have to prove something. Yes, we lost the best graduating class to ever come out of the Searcy program. Yes, we play in a loaded conference. But we also know that the group of guys that we have is here to play.
How successful? I can’t say. I’m sure there will be games where we just get beat fair and square, and there will be games where we don’t play our best baseball. But it won’t be because of lack of effort or hustle, I can promise you that. And don’t be surprised when you see the scrappy Searcy baseball team making a run in the 6A playoffs at the end of the year.
