By Evien Miller
Photo by Max Braunig
The wind is whirling, the sun is reflecting off players’ vipers, and the stadium is silent as the pitcher steps onto the mound. This is the beauty of baseball for those who love the sport.
“I love baseball because it gives me a goal to achieve,” Henry Harowski, a freshman player on the Willow team, said. “I’ve played it my whole life and can’t imagine not playing.”
The game really has a pull factor to it for many and can effortlessly draw people in. Eli Palmer, a junior player at Willow, started playing baseball at the age of 4 or 5. He wasn’t always in love with baseball, though. He added soccer and basketball to his extracurricular activities through middle school, but in 8th grade, he locked in with baseball exclusively because it was the sport practically made for him. Each player is strong in different ways, and Palmer’s strengths are more with leading by example than giving verbal instructions. Palmer likes to learn from teammates better than him, and it has caused him to see progress as a player.
Drago Han, a sophomore player, started playing the sport at around the same age as Palmer.
“I like to think I’m a coachable player who is good at taking feedback and using it to improve my game,” Drago said.
Baseball has its ups and downs, of course.. A big part of the sport is that you have to be willing to take criticism and use it to become better. If not, your team can’t push to be at the top of the league. The program needs coachable players as a strength to be the best of the best.
One way baseball may differ from other sports is that many consider it to be largely a mental game. The persistent and effort to stay in the game, with its nine innings, is the hardest part in the view of many players.
“Baseball is 90% mental, and the other 10% is physical,” Nikhil Doddomani, a freshman player, said.
In baseball, you have to work for fame. Vincent Cerrone, a junior player, said, “The only thing you can control is how hard you work.”
Willow players practice intensely to come out on top. When the players strive to be the most coachable, they also tend to listen to their teammates, too. It causes some serious improvement, and that’s a key factor in becoming the number one player.
“For Willow, I practice practically every day, but if it’s just me, I practice like 5-6 days a week,” Doddamani said.
