After the first 10 games for the Southwest baseball team, the season looked dire with only a single win.
However, persistency and the ability to handle adversity allowed the Trojans to turn things around with a 13-11 finish and a Miller Invitational title in the midst of an 8-game win strek.
Derek Mann, Southwest baseball coach, said looking at the season as a whole, it was positive.
“Overall, I think our season was a success even know we didn’t reach our goals as a team,” he said. “As a team that was 1-9 at one point in the season, we turned it around and started playing very well to win 12 of our last 14 games. [We improved on] how to handle adversity and how to handle failure better. We struggled mightily early on in season. We had injuries and just weren’t playing well.
“Our boys righted the ship and turned our season around. The way they handled everything was outstanding, and I was very proud of them.” one of the proudest moments this season came in the Miller Invitational against the host team.
“Miller had beaten us earlier in the year in a good game and we got our rematch in their tournament championship,” Mann said. “Brendyn Paulsen pitched a wonderful game and held them scoreless for 5.2 innings, and then Caleb Ayer came in and shut the door to help us win 3-0 over a good team. It was in the midst of our winning streak, and was really good to see our guys compete and have fun like that.”
Seniors were the backbone for Southwest this season, leading the offense all year.
“Coy Shrum was our leadoff pretty much all year he scored 26 times, was walked 28 times, had an on-base percentage of .511 and stole 18 bases,” Mann said. “Zak Corwin was our team’s Swiss army knife. He batted 1-6 throughout the year doing everything that was asked of him. He batted .328, scored 29 runs, had 13 RBI, and was walked 3 times more than he struck out 18:6.”
Behind that offensive motor, the underclassmen — even freshmen — were able to gain some valuable experience.
“We had two freshmen last year that helped the team out,” Mann said. “Logan Gregory played almost every day and was a big asset to the team. Wyatt Taft played a bit and helped on the mound and defensively. They are both expected to fill even bigger roles this upcoming year. We have a good group of incoming freshmen that will push for playing time and make our team compete at practice every day.”
Expectations will be high next season, as Mann said the goals of district champion, conference champion and progressing in the postseason are still unchanged.
“To meet our goals and expectations, we needed to start our season off hot and play well throughout,” Mann said. “We finished our season strong and on some positive notes that I am hoping the guys coming back can build off of. Our team goals for next year are the same to have fun playing this awesome game as well as conference title, district title, and continuing on in the state tournament.”
