Clarke Central High School varsity baseball shortstop Rio Foster, third baseman Garrison Cass and first baseman Rebekah Camp high-five pitcher Jasser Reyna, all seniors, before the first pitch against Greenbrier High School on April 21. CCHS varsity baseball head coach Nicholas Wegmann felt great about the game against GHS, which was also Senior Night, and has enjoyed coaching the seniors over their time in the program. “I’m super excited. I’ve been telling (the team) all year that even when the offseason hits there’s never downtime, you always got to keep working. I’m definitely gonna miss all seven of the seniors, (and) I thought they played a great game tonight,” Wegmann said. “It’s been great being around (some of) them all four or five years s but we do have a big group coming back that’s pretty talented. I’m always excited (for Senior Night). (I) just try to live up the night with the seven of them that are leaving.” Photo by Gretchen Hinger
After a 6-3 upset win against the Greenbrier High School Wolfpack, the third-ranked team in the 5A class, on April 19, the Clarke Central High School Gladiators’ varsity baseball team took on GHS again for their Senior Night on April 21. The Gladiators ended their season with a loss of 6-12, leaving CCHS with a 12-16 record for the 2021 season.
For the first out of the game, CCHS starting pitcher Jasser Reyna, a senior, struck out the second batter, but quickly after that the Gladiators gave up three runs, putting the Wolfpack in the lead in the first inning, followed by a no run bottom of the first for CCHS.
Despite pre-game emotions as he started his last high school game, Reyna settled in and saw good communication from team members.
“We struggled a lot with (communication) in the past games. We communicated really well today. I’m proud of that,” Reyna said. “I was kind of sad when I first got here, (because it was) my last game, but I said I’m gonna go all out. I gotta finish with a smile.”
Moving into the second and third inning, CCHS was able to put pressure on GHS after shortstop Rio Foster, a senior, got on base with a hit and first baseman Rebekah Camp, a senior, got her first hit of the season, a double, allowing Foster to score. Catcher Jackson Forrester, a junior, was able to bring Camp in to home with his hit, but was not able to get home himself. In the third inning, left fielder Will Robinson, a senior, hit a single and after a hit from Reyna and right fielder Dmitri Palmer, a senior, Robinson was able to score, bringing the score to 3-4.
“We hit the ball pretty good today (and) we just played good. We just had fun as a team. So I wasn’t really paying attention (to the) good and bad stuff,” Forrester said. “I was just coming out to have fun and just having the best time.”
“I wasn’t really paying attention (to the) good and bad stuff. I was just coming out to have fun and just having the best time.”
— Jackson Forrester,
CCHS catcher and junior
Varsity baseball head coach Nicholas Wegmann also felt that the team was strong in batting and pitching for this final game.
“We hit the ball good again. We were pitching good again, making them earn it, making them hit it to where we were,” Wegmann said. “I thought we played pretty good defensively, and we competed. That’s all we ask of them, so I was proud of how they played tonight.”
After answering back in the third inning, the Gladiators endured a difficult fourth inning after giving up five runs and a pitching change to junior Gavin Sabatini to end off the inning. While the Gladiators were able to put two more runs on the board, with Robinson and center fielder Sean Leahy, a junior, scoring, they left the inning 5-9.
Even with one more run in the sixth inning from center fielder Sean Leahy, a junior, and another pitching change to Camp and then to Jarrod Boon, a junior, in the seventh inning, the Gladiators were not able to make a full comeback with the Wolfpack scoring three more runs in the fifth and sixth innings to end the game 6-12.
Clarke Central High School varsity baseball left fielder Will Robinson, a senior, stands on first base during the team’s game against Greenbrier High School on April 21. With this game being Senior Night and the team’s last game of the season, CCHS varsity baseball head coach Nicholas Wegmann feels that the seniors will be missed in the 2022 season. “We’re gonna miss all seven of the seniors and just wish them luck whatever they’re doing next year. We got a lot of talented players that are leaving, so it’s always hard to refill positions, refill talent,” Wegmann said. Photo by Gretchen Hinger
Although the Gladiators lost, Reyna believes that the most important thing about the season-ending game was the shared love of both the sport and the celebration of the seniors.
“Even though we lost (12-6), we were having a great time,” Reyna said. “That’s all that matters. You’re here to play the sport that you love. Whether you win or lose it’s all about how you played. I was just happy (to play).”
Having played with the 2021 seniors for many years, Forrester feels that the team will miss those players in the next season, but is ready to put in work and prepare younger players for the 2022 season.
“This is the last game, (and) the seniors that we had this year I’ll miss a lot. I’ve been with them forever since little league. Going into next season, we’ve got work we need to do (to) get some of our younger guys ready,” Forrester said. “We’re gonna have a lot of seniors (next year too), and we just got to prepare for next season. Maybe we can go farther than we did this year.”
As Wegmann’s first year as head coach comes to a close, he feels that overall, the season went well and is proud of his first group of seniors as head coach.
“(This season) was great. I love being around the players out here at practice, out here during games. It kind of flew by to be honest with you. I feel like we just started a few weeks ago but it was great,” Wegmann said. “I thought they competed their butts off tonight. All the seniors really showed that they wanted to be out here, they wanted to play, they wanted to go out with a win and they competed very well.”
