2010 SEASON OUTLOOK

"Inwards"
 Mounts work on pulling everything together to defend Section 2 title

Every March seemingly begins the same way in high school baseball land.  There is the familiar “pinging” of aluminum bats sounding off after a long winter slumber.  There are soft diamonds thawing out from weeks of frost-bitten hardness.  There are ninth graders making their first lengthy trip down a ninety-foot dirt pathway.  And, there are coaches who approach the season with nervous anticipation of how their teams will execute on Opening Day.  For the defending Section 2 champion Ephrata Mounts, who return all but three starters from a season ago, you might think their approach to the start of the season would be a bit more comforting.  You might believe that a group of experienced players, fresh off a successful 2009 campaign, would give their head coach reason to expect big things from his veteran group.  “If anybody thinks we are thinking about championships right now, they’d be way off,” commented Mounts’ skipper Adrian Shelley, who begins his 13th season as the head coach of his alma mater.  “Our biggest concern at this stage of the season is no different than any other year.  We need to consistently put the ball in play, play fundamental defense, and throw strikes.  We’ve got a number of missing puzzle pieces floating around, and we’re just trying to get our hands on them, pull everything inwards, and find out where they fit.”

Conspicuously absent from this year’s puzzle are both corner infielders, Austin Landis and Chris Adams, lost to graduation, and the unexpected loss of Mounts’ starting shortstop Mark Lowrie, who will miss out on his junior year after requiring season-ending knee surgery.  All three players were significant offensive and defensive contributors a year ago.  Their departure forces the 2010 Mounts to search for serviceable replacement parts that are capable of producing on the big stage - a task that no head coach would find enviable.  “Obviously, Mark’s injury changes the dynamics a bit.  We’re now planning on breaking in another freshman at shortstop.  And, we are counting on several underclassmen to compete and assume the role of steady gloves at the corner positions.  I think the defense will eventually jell, however, how much offensive production we get out of those replacement parts is anything, but certain.”  The rest of the line-up will look familiar to Mounts’ opponents.  The outfield returns every starter from a season ago, two-year starter Brok Martin begins his third season at second base, and junior Chris Fassnacht returns behind the dish.  “It’s really important that we have stability returning to the middle of our defense.  Folks may easily forget that a season ago, we submitted a few line-ups that had four freshmen starting in it.  Another rookie is being added to the mix this year.  So, at least half of our line-up, heading into the season, will include sophomores and freshmen.  That’s young by anyone’s standards,” remarked Coach Shelley. 

The starting pitching rotation returns a pair of right-handed workhorses, senior Madison Zimmerman and sophomore Jayson Frymyer, both of whom earned all-section honors for their stingy mound efforts in 2009.  Complimenting those two are six or seven developing arms in the bullpen, most of whom are left-handed, that have Coach Shelley excited about the future of the pitching staff.  “If you remove Madison and Jayson from the mix and focus solely on the remainder of this year’s staff, you’d have to conclude that we are a year or two away from one of the best staffs we’ve had in awhile.  However, this year is about now.  And, early on, those two righties are going to have step up for us.  If they can put us in a position to continue developing the young arms that we have, we may be able to accelerate the growth of the staff a season ahead of schedule.”

Of course, with a new season, come new opportunities for baseball to spring adversity upon even the most expecting participants.  Along with that, Ephrata enters 2010 wearing a target on their backs after claiming their fourth Section 2 title in seven campaigns.  For Coach Shelley and his staff, the responsibility to manage expectations while educating the still-young squad of the treachery that lies within the sport may be an underlying theme all season long.  “We’ve spent most of the off-season trying to prepare this ballclub, both mentally and physically, for the challenges that lie ahead.  However, you never know how young players are going to react and manage the peaks and valleys associated with this game.  If anything, I’m probably a bit more wary coming into this season based on the fact that a good portion of our current personnel played a role in last year's championship experience; in their first-ever taste of varsity baseball.  Generally, it doesn’t happen that way.  We’ve made it a point of emphasis to build strength, confidence, and responsibility in responding to adversity internally.  We want to identify what we can control, pull it inwards, and then focus on producing positive outcomes,” explained Coach Shelley.  If the Mounts are going to back up last season’s success, the puzzle pieces will have to fit securely into place; enough to endure the inevitable rough road that looms ahead.  Same story, different year . . . it wouldn’t be high school baseball season if it wasn’t.
 


2010 Ephrata Mounts Baseball
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