Under a new coach, baseball looks to end season on a good note.

Speed.

It can be a person’s greatest weapon and an enemy’s greatest fear. Speed. It is also what separates the varsity baseball team from that other schools. The problem is learning to use that speed.

The baseball season got off to a rocky start. Partly because of the arrival of a new head coach, Henry Sanchez. “We all started with the same goal, to make the playoffs,” said Shawn Quiruz, junior.

“My goal was to just teach the game and go hard from start to finish,” Sanchez said.
Practices at the beginning of the season were intense. They would start at 3:00 p.m. and not end until 7:00 p.m. They were six days a week and included a lot of conditioning. “I had to work with them and teach the fundamentals. Most of the things that they should have learned in little league.”

“Our record could have been better,” Quiruz said . “We demonstrated a lot of improvement from the first half of the season.” The season has been one weighed with heavy losses with a record of 3-6 in league and 7-12 overall. “It’s hard when you only have 10 kids from the home school,” Sanchez said, referring to the few players from different schools.

At one point the season looked like it would have been a winless one. They started the season with a three-game losing streak. The team was not working to its full potential, but then the coach made a change. “He introduced several drills that really helped us,” Quiruz said. “Our offense and defense improved significantly.”

These new skill practices helped mold the team’s tremendous speed and form it into a solid defense. “We always had the speed on the team, he just showed us how to use it.” Practices were also cut to a less stressful two hours a day. The strength of the team is their fast defense that can make plays in vital game situations.

“We came a long way,” said Sanchez.  “Put us out of 10 schools at the beginning of the season and we’re at he bottom two or three. Looking at us now i would consider us above average.”