Mike Vukovcan Patience and belief in yourself are things that many young athletes struggle with.
Everyone wants instant gratification, and quitting becomes the first option when a player struggles or things don’t go their way.
Hopewell softball and youth baseball is sponsored by Lisa McCoy, your neighborhood State Farm agent.
That’s the easy thing to do, sticking with it and working to get better and improve your game is the hard thing to do.
Fortunately for Hopewell junior James Gill he chose the latter and because of that, could be reaping the benefits this upcoming baseball season.
Throughout his baseball career, Gill has always started and been one of the better players on his team. However, upon entering high school things changed for him.
During his freshman season, the Vikings roster was filled with seniors and a lot of talented players that went on to win the WPIAL championship. Last season, Gill, who plays 3rd base, was behind senior Tyler Triscila on the Vikings depth chart. Because of that, most of Gill’s playing time came as a designated hitter.
Entering this season, things are completely different and because of his patience and belief in himself, Gill is battling to become Hopewell’s starting 3rd baseman in 2025.
Saturday morning, Vikings Sports Now had the chance to talk to Gill about his high school baseball journey and his excitement for what’s ahead for him and his teammates.
“My expectations are to be a big contributor to our team this season,” said Gill. “Last year, I got a few cracks as the designated hitter, and I liked the way I felt and the way it went. But it did hurt when I had to watch a lot of what was going on and not being able to contribute and help our team.”
“Because of that, I’ve been working hard in the gym and I’m just trying to get better and keep a strong mindset because I know what I’m capable of doing, it’s just a matter of getting it done when given the opportunity.”
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Keeping a strong mindset as a young player isn’t easy because everyone wants to play, especially when they’re used to doing so. Gill believes that being able to handle that and being a good teammate along the way, will pay dividends in the future.
“My parents really helped me to keep a good mindset, and I just told myself that I’ve been playing baseball my whole life and I did it for a reason because I love the game. I just stayed strong and did what I could to try and help get my teammates better in practice and do things that would stand out to the coaches. I knew that if I did that, eventually there would be an opportunity and that’s presented itself this year and I’m doing my best to try and grab it and take it.”
Gill tells VSN that one of the things he’s working on the most is to improve his defensive play.
“I believe I’m improving on my footwork and being able to get around the baseball, getting low as I approach the baseball,” said Gill. “As Coach Singletary would always point out to me last year in practice, my footwork needed to get better, so I’ve worked a lot with him to get better and to show him that I want to get better. I’ve played third base my entire life but also realize that in high school, it’s a completely different game because everyone is bigger and stronger. The ball comes at you hot, but I think I’ll be ready.”
Hitting for power has always been Gill’s strength and believes that with more at-bats, that could continue in high school.
The bottom line though for Gill is that he knows this team is very talented and wants them to take advantage of this opportunity. For guys like him, Charlie Smetana, Kingston Krotec, Logan Triscila, Ben McDonald, Drew Donovan, etc. a lot of the players that he’s played with his entire life, they only have two years left to play together and achieve something special.
“We do feel the urgency. When we were little, we were always winning tournaments, hoisting trophies that we thought meant everything,” said Gill. “But now, we’re competing for the real thing, WPIAL Championships, State Championships. Those are the things that get you in record books. Winning at that level is important to all of us and as a team, we know that we’re capable of doing.”
“We’ve been together for a long time, we know what each is capable of doing, now we just have to hold each other accountable because you never know what can happen. You just never know what can happen. For instance, last year, Kingston broke his ankle and was out for his whole season of football. You can go out there and it can be your last game, you never know. We have to go out there and have fun but at the same time, take things seriously because it would be a disappoint if we don’t win.”
That last comment from Gill is and has always been the mindset of the Hopewell High School baseball program to win and to win big. For some, having a winning season or making the playoffs equates to a successful season, that’s not so with the baseball program. The only goal is to win a championship, and Gill explains where that mindset comes from.
“You got to give Coach Singletary the credit. He holds every single player on the team accountable. He schedules morning lifts that he expects us to all be at, we do leadership programs, 300-hour clubs, he keeps us engaged throughout the offseason. Then once we get here, everyone knows what is expected of them because we know how he is, and he also knows us. I believe it’s a good combination because we all want to win.”
“Whenever you come to a program like this, you see all the championships on the scoreboard and as a team, we believe we can accomplish that too. So, every year when you step into the gym in January, you know right away the expectation is championship and work as hard as we can to try and accomplish that.”
