{"id":21488,"date":"2014-03-08T16:50:25","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T22:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/?p=21488"},"modified":"2014-04-27T17:53:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-27T23:53:20","slug":"baseball-player-exceeds-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/?p=21488","title":{"rendered":"Sophomore pitcher excels as youngest on varsity team"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSC_0158\"<\/a>\u00a0Sophomore Austin Allen is one of the youngest pitchers Searcy’s baseball team has ever had.


\n“I\u00a0started playing baseball when I was five or six, around the time\u00a0I was in kindergarten,” said Allen.


\nHe wanted to play baseball just because he loved watching the sport and thought it would be fun to do. With his family’s support, he has become an amazing pitcher.


\nOn the high school team, Allen has held down the pitching mound for the past two years, but in practice, he\u00a0is third basemen to better his skills.


\n“I refer to myself as a pitcher way more than a third baseman because I mostly pitch,” said Allen.


\nHis favorite team has always been the Saint Louis Cardinals because of the values the team has. They don’t care if they win or lose, they play for the love of the game, and that is the one thing that is most important to Allen.

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The Cardinals have always been my favorite team because they might not have the best players, but they do have a good team,” said Allen. “I have grown up around them because of my family that lives in St. Louis. I love the cardinal atmosphere.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n




\nAllen worked his way up from city league teams all the way to a showcase team.


\n“I have played on many teams throughout my years of baseball: regular league teams, all-star teams, a Cabot team,\u00a0the high school, legion team, and a showcase team this year,” said Allen.


\nTo keep\u00a0his spot on the team, Allen\u00a0works not only during school practice, but he spends multiple hours on his own perfecting what he has learned.


\n\"DSC_0126\"<\/a>
\n“I pitch, practice hard, do my own time, and have a good attitude to keep my spot,” said Allen. “I have a pitching\u00a0coach that has also helped me to improve.”


\nAllen shows his passion by practicing year round; not taking a break, even in offseason.\u00a0

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“Well, I practice all year considering that we have spring and summer ball,” said Allen. “I practice on my own though during offseason and tryouts are in November, which starts off the lions’ practice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“


\nAs a freshman in any sport, not many athletes get to play varsity, but Allen got the chance and played varsity over the summer.


\n\"DSC_0122\"“I pitched a full varsity game and did very well,” said Allen. “I felt like I really got to prove myself and show what I have.”


\nIf\u00a0he was not apart of a team, he would still play baseball for the pure enjoyment he feels when he plays.


\n“I play because it makes me feel good,” said Allen. “It is a feeling that I can’t get any other way, a feeling no one will experience unless they play the game.”


\nAllen prefers to be on a team because he enjoys the responsibilities and he wants to contribute.\u00a0


\n“You get to be\u00a0proud of being on the team and be a positive contribution to the team,” said Allen. “I also get to take care of my responsibilities.”


\nOver the past two years of playing on the team, he has built friendships that contribute to keeping them together.


\n“Being on the team means that you really are a part of the team; it’s an honor to play with my friends,” said Allen.\u00a0


\nThe best thing\u00a0about baseball, according to Allen, is the happiness of succeeding and doing great as a team.

<\/p>\n

“My favorite thing about baseball is the feeling you get whenever you are doing great and winning,” said Allen. “It’s a special kind of joy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n




\nWith the season beginning, he holds high expectations of not only himself but of his team as a whole.\u00a0


\n“We have improved a great amount since the last season, so this season should be a turn around,” said Allen.


\nEven if the team doesn’t do good, he is proud of the team they all have become which will help them win.


\n“We have become more of a team and more unified this season,” said Allen. “Hopefully, we will do good.”


\nBaseball season is underway; be sure to come out and support Allen and his team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Sophomore Austin Allen is one of the youngest pitchers Searcy’s baseball team has ever had. “I\u00a0started playing baseball when I was five or six, around the time\u00a0I was in kindergarten,” said Allen. He wanted to play baseball just because he loved watching the sport and thought it would be fun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21488"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23613,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21488\/revisions\/23613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searcylionpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}