Blazers ready to step up to the plate

By Matt Smith
Sports Editor

Weekend wins would mean an appearance in regional tournament

The Blazer baseball squad will officially wrap up its season with three final games Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, when they play Cedar Valley in Lancaster. The team could secure a post-season appearance with three wins, so they have the keys to seal their own fate. Hopes are high and chances are good that the Blazers will be making a trip to regionals.

Currently standing in second place in conference at nine wins and nine losses, the Blazers retain a half-game lead over of Eastfield. If the team wins all three games on the weekend, they will likely play Richland, North Arkansas or a team from Louisiana in regionals. Otherwise, their performance will have to be duplicated by Eastfield or worse in order to make the trip.

Hitting and pitching have been questionable at times, but there have been flashes of excellence. “At times we seem to be swinging well and at others we just do enough to get by. We are all right; we aren’t great hitters right now. And our pitching is the same as our hitting, at times we show flashes and think it’s going to be okay and at other times we kind of go back a step,” said Coach Steve Cummings.

Although the team might not be too solid with the bats and on the mound, defensively the Blazers have something to swagger about. “We’ve done well, we haven’t made that many errors the past couple of games so that has been a big plus,” said Cummings.

Cummings began the season saying consistency was the key to winning this year. Although the team has not fulfilled this 100 percent, they are still in second place due to hard work and spirit. The team has lost some games that they thought they should have won, but poor execution proved otherwise.

“We didn’t bunt here, didn’t get timely hitting or gave up hits when we didn’t need to at times so we couldn’t really get anything consistent going,” said Cummings.

Though the Blazers had some goals that cannot be met anymore, such as having a better record, there is still a major goal that is within their grasp. As long as the team stays focused on winning, they can meet one of the toughest goals -- making it to the Junior College World Series. It will be a long road, starting with winning April 25 and 26 and then moving on to win the regional tournament. No one said it was supposed to be easy, but a steady recipe of consistency, hard work and a dash of luck will eventually pay off.