Baseball Begins with a Bang

The first day of baseball practice was chilly and windy, but the sun was shining.  Twenty-three of us showed up on the first day of practice ready for the 2021- 2022 baseball season to begin. The sound of the ball smacking the glove brought a feeling of anticipation for the upcoming season. We started off with conditioning, and running sprints, which left us all feeling a little rusty. All the players and coaches seemed to be smiling, which gave the first practice an atmosphere of excitement. 

In last year’s inaugural season, the Jemicy baseball team had 4 wins. Over the season every player improved a good amount. The coaches, who are all returning from last season, are thrilled for this season to begin. 

Coach Bradley Davis said, “I am very excited for this season to start and am ready to see the new players this year.” In the first practice, Head Coach Mark Palmerino started the practice by conditioning the team. I was reminded of elementary school as we did crab walks and frog jumps. 

Then, we all went outside and started the throw for an hour. We all were getting our arms loose and tuning up. The next day every player on the baseball team felt sore, mostly in their arms and legs. This was a good feeling for the team because it showed that we worked very hard in the first practice. 

In the second practice, we started to hit and see what position we all felt comfortable in. We spent the whole practice hitting with each player getting a turn to bat. The sound of the cracking bat brought us satisfaction. Everyone got in our favorite positions and we played there until the coach told us to come in and hit the ball. When it was my turn at bat, I hit 10 balls and ran on the last one. The ball went flying in the air and landed down near second base. I sprinted and made it to first base. Once I made it to home plate, I went back out to the field to play outfield.

Veteran player Ethan Boston, class of ‘22 said “I am very excited for this season to start and I am very excited to play with the boys from last year.” This year we have new players, some of whom haven’t played baseball before. It is junior Brady Andrulot’s first year playing baseball. He is nervous about playing but also excited to step on the field. Even though Brady is a rookie, he is a natural-born athlete and has already grown to love playing the game. 

Every player this year is working very hard in the hopes of earning more playing time. If the team keeps working on throwing good passes to each other, I think our performance on the field will keep improving. Hopefully, our determination will lead us to more victories this season and a stronger baseball program overall. I know Coach Palmerino dreams of having a field on campus one day. While I may not be here to see it, I like the idea of being a part of the early days of Jemicy’s baseball team.