Whitko Coach Sees Progress In Loss To NorthfieldSOUTH WHITLEY – Whitko’s baseball team continues to show steady improvement, says head coach Bob Stambazze. He feels like one day, sooner rather than later, that improvement will show up in the win column.
Monday wasn’t that day, though, as the Wildcats fell 5-1 to visiting Northfield in a Three Rivers Conference game.
“It was a tough loss, but it was typical of what we’ve done,” the coach said.
Stambazze used a metaphor from another sport to describe the issues the young Wildcat team is working to overcome.
“In basketball, if you turn the ball over you give the other team extra opportunities to score. Defensively, we’re doing the same thing; we’re allowing the opposition too many opportunities to score.
“Even though we did a great job with that tonight, committing just the one error, it’s still frustrating because we put ourselves in a situation that when you drop a tough game, it compounds itself.”
Stambazze said before Monday his team had committed 38 errors in its first six games, so to have a one-error game Monday marks improvement.
“We’re getting closer. I’m not going to use the excuse that we’re a young team, but we’re getting there. I’m really happy with our progress, and there’s no place I’d rather be than with my team.
“We (coaches) want them to learn the process of the game, and that everyone has someplace to go on every pitch. We need to get to where we react, instead of think. It’s fun to watch the progression. Mistakes are a sign that we’re doing something. We’re going to learn from our mistakes, and we’re going to get better. You can’t ask for anything more.”
Whitko will host Manchester in a conference game at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
