Mike Vukovcan Sports is a learning experience and that’s definitely the case when you start competing at the junior high level.
Unlike in grade school sports where you’re playing kids your age and in nearby schools, junior high is completely different.
Not only do you start to play teams in bigger school districts, but in some cases, kids have to go up against kids that are older than they are.
That is certainly the case when playing baseball. The reason for that is that there is no real uniformity when it comes to baseball and different schools handle things in different ways. The main for that is simple- number of kids that play baseball.
In the bigger districts, there are enough kids to field a junior high team (7th and 8th graders), a 9th grade team or a JV team. However, that certainly is different from district to district.
When looking at Hopewell’s situation this year, the 7th grade numbers were extremely large, which led to the decision that the Junior High Team would be made up of just 7th graders, with the 8th graders playing with the 9th graders on the Freshman team.
Was this ideal, probably not, but it was done so that cuts didn’t have to be made, and more kids had the opportunity to be practice and play baseball.
The tough part about this is that on most games, the Hopewell teams would be going up against players older than they were from bigger districts such as North Allegheny, Seneca Valley, West Allegheny, Moon, Pine-Richland, Montour, etc.
This year is going to be a challenge for our coaches and athletes and while you always want to win and that’s the goal, it will be challenging to do so. That being said, the results be damn, the reality is that this year is going to be about personal development and learning to deal with adversity.
This will no doubt benefit them down the road.
With that being said, the Hopewell Middle School team traveled to West Allegheny yesterday and were on the losing end, 13-1. Regardless of the score and of the result, Vikings Sports Now will point out the positives that came from the game and won’t second guess coaches or make players look bad.
POSITIVE RESULTS FROM HOPEWELL/WEST ALLEGHENY GAME:
*Connor Reed and Channing Yesionek pitched and competed well. Give credit to West Allegheny who have a really good baseball program, their batters hit the gaps and ran the bases really well. That’s baseball. Reed threw 53 pitches and Yesionek threw 51 pitches, averaging 25 pitches per inning. Considering the opposition, that’s not bad. They will learn from this and both will get better.
*As I mentioned, everyone in West Allegheny’s lineup was capable of hitting the ball, so the Hopewell defenders were going to get tested.
-Ryder Kostrick made two above average catches in center field, one of which was a sprinting/diving one that he put his body on the line. Worthy of Top 10 Plays on Sports Center.
-As has been the case all season, Vin Smetana was solid at shortstop. He made two throws to first, but his highlight was the over the shoulder catch at the edge of the infield. Although Smetana made it look like it, it wasn’t an easy play.
-David Johnson made a great play at 2nd base for a putout.
-3rd baseman Noah Honess did an outstanding job of tracking down a pop foul in which he needed to run, what seemed like a mile to get. Noah also snagged a line drive over his head for an out, which would have been a double.
-Offensively, Hopewell put the ball in play 7 times and only struck out 3 times in their 15 at-bats. It should also be pointed out that the West Allegheny pitcher was throwing 70+ MPH. Unfortunately, when they made contact, most times it was right at the West Allegheny fielder. Smetana, Kostrick, Ty Hoffman and Reed all squared up balls, but the West A made the plays.
Although the results weren’t what they wanted, the Hopewell Middle School team represented themselves and the program well yesterday against a quality opponent.
These players will learn and will get better, there’s no doubt about that. Next up, a matchup tomorrow at home against Central Valley.
