Going back to the first day of baseball practice, the word “state” was already becoming a repetitive word in each player’s vocabulary. As the boys started warmups, the 2022 State Championship billboard towered over the field looking down on each player.
The expectations were higher than ever this year as the majority of the team were returners trying to reclaim their district title, and the run to state for the third year in a row.As the start of preseason began, nothing went the team’s way.
A losing record of 2-1-7.
State ranking dropped.
And the dynamic of the team was unbalanced.
Junior Ty Boozer thinks the slow start to the season had less to do with the team’s ability and more to do with the mentality of each player.
“At the start of the year everyone just wanted to be the best, instead of trying to work together to be the best possible team,” Ty said. “Everyone was trying to be individuals, and obviously that won’t work in the long run.”
One loss after another, junior Landon West along with his teammates realized something had to change.
“Fincher sat the whole team on the bus, and for about five minutes we all just talked about, ‘Why are we getting these results? Why is everyone playing selfish? And how do we fix this problem?’” Landon said. “We all came to the conclusion that our obvious end goal was to win, and the only way to do that was to play as one, and not separate.”
Since that talk, the team has won 20 of their last 21 games. Including beating Liberty Eylau (LE), the cross town rivals which secured their first place finish. They will face Lindale in round three of playoffs on Thursday May 16
“Our mindsets have completely shifted from the start of the season to now. We all have the mindset and believe we are the best team in our area, and we know we need to show and prove it,” Landon said. “We knew going into the game we were going to win. Which I think had everything to do with the belief we had in each other and our abilities.”