As he takes a deep breath, he rolls the ball over in his hands as the batter looks him down from across the way. The dirt under his cleats grounds him and beads of sweat slowly fall down his forehead, the hat on his head not doing much to guard the heat. With another deep breath, a decision on a pitch and a bit of confidence in his head, he throws another strike, earning a title no one else owns in Timberwolf Baseball history.
Senior Kade Davis pitched a No Hitter game on March 26 against Lockhart, marking the first perfect baseball game in the history of the school with a score of 15-0. Davis threw for a perfect game, allowing no runs to be scored off of him.
“I was pumped, our team was pumped, everybody was happy, and we were winning the ball game,” Davis said. “During the game I tried not to think about it because you’re not supposed to think about a no hitter while you’re still in the game or you could jinx it. I was just worried about winning the game, I didn’t care so much about the no hitter during the game, I just wanted to win.”
Davis earned a spot on varsity as a sophomore and was told he would move back down to JV depending on the level of his play. He was on varsity for the rest of sophomore year and served as a captain and leader on the team his junior and senior years.
“My goal at the start of high school was to make it on varsity as soon as possible and go win a district championship with the team,” Davis said. “Having people that are supportive for me and not shooting me down but instead they are encouraging and happy for me helped me achieve these goals.”
While Davis was on varsity, the team earned three district titles and advanced to the third round in playoffs every year. As one of the 16 seniors on the baseball team this year, Davis has had his teammates support him throughout his baseball journey.
“It’s nice to have teammates that will go practice with me and go play catch when we don’t have practice,” Davis said. “Just knowing I always have people that are supporting me when everyone is going to hang out but instead they go with me to go hit and support me through the way.”
Davis will continue his baseball career at Temple Community College. Davis said his goal is to play one or two years at the junior college level and then transfer to a bigger school where he can fulfill his goal of being drafted into the MLB.
“The competition level is definitely going to impact me in college,” Davis said. “I know everybody else is going to be just as good at this level, it’s just figuring out how I am to be able to differentiate myself from the rest in order to stand out compared to everyone else.”
Although the baseball team’s season ended on Friday with a third round loss to Rouse, Davis is looking towards the future and reflecting on the past with optimism.
“This year was full of good wins for us,” Davis said. “We went to the Corpus tournament last year and we had a little of a chip on our shoulder because we lost in the championship last year, so coming back and winning the championship game this year was really rewarding. All the hard work paid off in district. But, after high school, I am most excited to continue doing what I enjoy and living the dream throughout college.”