View From Two
April 21, 2009
As we began league play last week we started a new part of our season. One of our team goals, along with the others in our O-K Green conference, is to win a league title. We played in two close games against Zeeland East and Wyoming Park. By going 1-1 in those games, it proves the difficulty of our conference. This week we have games against Rogers and a rematch with the Chix. Rogers already has a quality win over Jenison this year and we collected just three hits in our last game against East. We are looking to improve each day and with an improved offensive performance from Friday to Saturday, this week looks to have some pretty exciting matchups.
Coming up this Saturday is our annual Hamilton tournament. The tournament has a new aspect this year. Saturday is “Bases for a Cure” at the ball fields and our team along with the varsity softball team will be decorated in pink, supporting the Susan G. Komen for a cure foundation. We sold pink t-shirts to members of the Hamilton Community so they too could show their support for breast cancer. Several people in our area are, or have been, affected by breast cancer and this means a lot to everybody. It’s going to be a special day.
We have built some pretty good tradition over the past few years in our baseball program. Obviously, we will be looking live up to that tradition and the expectations of us. There is a lot of talent on our team and we are not looking to just get by. Even though a couple of our games have been canceled due to rain lately, we have been practicing hard in the gym. The future of Hamilton Baseball looks bright as well as Coach Grabinski is working the JV team hard each day.
In our conference there is no team that is an automatic win. We will be approaching each game the same in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully this week’s league games are better offensively than last week’s were and we will score a few more runs. We’re trying to improve each game and we will need to continue to improve to contend for a league championship this year.
-Corey Schrotenboer
April 12, 2009
Our varsity baseball team, along with a few junior varsity players, once again spent Spring Break in South Carolina. The trip seemed to go by very quickly as we were busy with different activities most of the time. We practiced in the morning from about 9:30 to 2:00 pm at Bishop England High School. Our practice consisted of defensive work for a while and then three different stations for hitting. After a short break we would begin a four inning inter-squad scrimmage.
The afternoon after practice sometimes involved going to the beach, although the weather was a little cooler than what it normally is there for this trip, basketball at the park, tanning on the pool deck, or some video games. We were split into four groups for dinner and each took our turn making it on the night it was assigned to us. The nights were busy as well as we went bowling one night, went to a baseball game between The Citadel and Charleston Southern, and played “Street Smarts: Southern Style”.
Apart from a short downpour Monday morning, we were provided with great weather for practice. We got a ton of reps fielding ground balls, catching fly balls, and swinging the bats. Our pitching seemed to improve a ton as we had several awesome performances on the mound in our tournament on Saturday.
This trip was about more than just baseball though. Our team, already pretty tight-knit, grew even closer through various activities and just living with people we don’t normally live with. Our main activity was “Street Smarts: Southern Style” and this seemed to help us learn the most about each other. Walking up and down the beach in several groups, we had to ask random people basic questions and record them answering, or attempting to answer, the questions. The tapes were then all put together to make one movie that we used to play the game on Thursday night.
An already great trip got even better on Tuesday morning when Coach Behnke made an unexpected appearance and was able to stay with us for the rest of the trip. His humor is usually a great bonus for the team and that proved to be true for the remaining couple of days.
With a busy upcoming week we will look to hit the practice field hard on Monday. We will be playing five games Tuesday through Saturday and will need to continue to get good performances on the mound this week.
-Corey Schrotenboer
April 2, 2009
Our win last night was really important heading into Spring Break. We evened our record at 1-1 as we prepare to go south for a nice warm week of practice. After a little bit of a slow start last night, everybody showed their capabilities in the later innings. In previous years, our teams have improved most in “Sooth Calluna” than any other time in the season, and this year we hope for the same.
The trip down south isn’t just about becoming better baseball players. Everything we do is team oriented and allows us to become closer to our teammates. When we get home from practice in the morning and get everything cleaned up we usually have some free time. A lot of the kids will go to the beach, which is really close to where we are staying, and play catch with a football or just hang out. Others will work on their tan, which never works for some. Either way, it’s amusing after a couple days to look at how bad some of the kids will burn.
Later in the afternoon we generally have something planned. Whether it is going bowling or doing an activity carefully planned by the adults, we continue to grow closer to each other. Although the activities differ each year, the fun and humor they generate does not. In the past we have had our own American Idol, which involved a bunch of lyrics about “Melton John” and about some former players and their girlfriends. Last year we hosted a Hamilton Baseball edition of Amazing Race. In this activity we found ourselves running all over the island looking at different clues that took us to the next and finally back to one of the houses. We also had a little Fear Factor going on with some very unusual food getting thrown up.
As we take off tomorrow morning and begin our trip, we start a new part of our season. With two games completed already we will have a week of great weather to practice in and finish working out the rust that accumulated during the off-season. We have a good idea now of what we need to improve on most, and we will be working hard to become better each day.
-Corey Schrotenboer
