The Fort Campbell Courier
Fort Cambell, KY | March 8, 2012
The weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer. These are perfect conditions for the start of the Fort Campbell High School baseball season.
Parents and fans gathered at Fort Campbell, March 1 to see both the varsity and junior varsity Falcons in action at their scrimmage against Clarksville’s Kenwood High School, and they were not to be disappointed. The FCHS players were confident as they took to the field, ready to defend their home territory.
Without delay, the team showcased their strong pitching and hitting in the first inning and they quickly shut out the Kenwood batters. The Falcons’ hitters fared better, scoring three runs.
“I feel really good,” said senior and centerfielder J.D. Swails. “I think we’ve gotten off to a good [start] this year.”
Swails began playing for the Falcons during middle school. This is his fifth year and he is happy with his first performance of the season.
“I thought I played really well today,” he said. “I roped that double first for an RBI and then I roped that single on my second at bat for another RBI. I was really surprised, that’s not something I’m normally good at.”
Swails has “seen a lot of improvement” in the team this season and is convinced that although “a lot of people were doubting [the team],” they will be successful in their conference play.
Senior Pedro Hernandez echoed Swails’ optimistic sentiments about the start of the season. While he is personally happy with his pitching, Hernandez feels that the Falcons’ potential success will hinge on successful team play.
“It feels pretty great actually because we have a great team right now,” he said. “We’re really pulling it together and playing as a team and not playing individually.”
Both the Falcons and Kenwood coaches used the scrimmage as an opportunity to test out all of their players. Each took their time to deliberately use time outs as teaching moments for the teams and Falcon players received one on one instruction from the coaches about pitching and base running.
While the scrimmage play was slower than that of a regular season game due to the extra coaching, the players kept their heads in the game. For six innings, the Falcons held Kenwood to only six runs, while they had brought 12 players across the home plate.
Hernandez said that he felt like the team was “doing pretty well. [It’s] different because last year we just gave up whenever we made an error. This year, we’ll keep our heads up.”
As far as the regular season, Hernandez and Swails are both anticipating a fun season to finish out their high school baseball career.
“[I] look forward to having some fun and winning some games,” said Hernandez.