Throughout their entire season, Freedom Baseball gave a steady, constructive effort. Since a majority of the players were upperclassmen they wanted to achieve some of their team goals by the end of this year.
Although, they lost the same amount of games as they won, they finished their season 7-7 and 8-11 overall. However, the games they did win were won with a large gap between their opponents. This can be seen in their wins during these games: Freedom at Northgate 18-4, Burgettstown at Freedom 10-0, Avonworth at Freedom 11-1, Freedom at Fort Cherry 13-4 and Northgate at Freedom 13-3.
“We need to play hard and teach other teams we aren’t gonna lay down for any of them,” Sophomore Jason Norman said.
During the winning games, their confidence rubbed off on each other, lifting all of their spirits. These moments inspired many spectators while watching them play their hearts’ out.
The coaches are preparing to improve next season’s record and to complete all of their goals, including having the opportunity to compete for the section title and to make the playoffs. Although they fell short on these goals during this season, the coach is confident that they will be able to next year.
When asked on how he plans to accomplish his goals, Coach O’Leary said, “One pitch at a time, one game at a time.”
“Next year, we begin anew. We should have a solid group of returning talented athletes, and they should be hungry to compete. We’ll also see what the incoming freshman class has to add to the team,” O’Leary said.
The underclassmen have even begun planning for next year’s season.
“I plan to give this team everything I’ve got and try and turn this [losing streak] around,” Norman said.
Next year, the team won’t be playing teams (New Brighton, Quaker Valley and Avonworth) that they usually play.
“We’ll be in a new section, and the WPIAL/PIAA reclassifications should make things interesting,” O’LEary said.
The section that they will be in next season will involve teams such as Neshannock, Laurel, Shenango, OLSH, North Catholic, Aliquippa and Summit Academy.
Through the losses that the team experienced, their relationship as a united front was strengthened.
“We learned to become a better team as we faced diversity through the season,” Senior Garin Piehler said.
Even though the team didn’t meet their objective of winning more games than losing, they did, however, fulfill others.
“Our goal was to reduce team strikeouts, to increase the team’s batting average and lastly to have an overall better record than last year,” Senior Timothy Hampe said.
Some team members even met personal goals.
“As an individual player, I achieved one of the best seasons of my high school career. I increased in almost every stat and reduced the amount of strikeouts I had in a season,” Hampe said.
From conditioning to their last game, the boys gave remarkable effort to make this season one to remember.