He watches as a player from the opposing team gets ready to swing at the ball. He carefully grabs the ball in his hands and gets on the mound. He launches the ball with all of his strength and confidence. A strike. Seconds go by and the referee says strike three. 

Varsity baseball finished the season as district champions with a 7-3 record. The players say they’re hopeful for the future by putting in work in practice and in games and hope to continue advancing in playoffs.

I think we have had a great season,” senior pitcher Adam Vaughn said. “It was going to be a telling year after losing as many seniors as we did last year, but a lot of players stepped up to the plate and performed to the best of their ability which has led us to success.”

Overall, they have a 16-7 record and are currently bi-district champions, defeating Dripping Springs in two games with a score of 9-1 and 6-1.

“I believe that everyone on the team has a role and they know their role,” junior shortstop and third basemen Quint Mullen said. “We always give our best effort on the field and in practice so we have the best chance at success for the team. This season we have had a lot of success because of all the practice we have implemented.”

Their practices consist of individual and team development of skills like batting practice, pitching practice for pitchers and throwing drills. Mullen says that they have been working recently on the fundamentals which has helped them a lot this season and developed each player’s skills.

“The school baseball community is a very positive tight knit group,” Vaughn said. “At every game, coaches and fans encourage and support each and every player on the team. You can’t go to a game, no matter how big your contribution, without being told how much you helped the team and how important your role was.”

The team is led by Head Coach Lanny Williams and Assistant Coaches Mike Cockerill and Brendan McCarthy. The captains for the team are senior Cristian Pickens, junior Louie Alonzo, senior Adam Vaughn, and senior Julian Swift. Their next playoff game is an away game on May 12 against Winn High School, where they play best of 3 games.

This season the most important work for me has been the time we spend on the field working on my skills, specifically pitching,” Vaughn said. “Every player goes to practice to work on developing and improving their skills and put in tremendous effort and a level of dedication and intensity to every practice. I’ve always been big into the weight room and that has always come naturally, but I have spent much more time on pitching and my hard work is definitely helping me become a better pitcher. Every player goes into games in practice with an intent of getting better at the game and becoming a better athlete.”