Arcadia High School (AHS) JV Boys Baseball played against South Hills High School On Feb. 18. With the JV Baseball season fast approaching, the Apaches used this game as a pre-season practice by giving everyone on the team roster the opportunity to play their own positions. The game resulted in an unfortunate loss of 0-5 for AHS, despite the outstanding efforts demonstrated by both teams. At the end of the game, several Apaches shared their thoughts.

“I think [the game] was overall fluent, but we didn’t play as well,” said junior Edward Baker, who played 2nd position. “The team has been working hard, but when we come back [to practice] again, we are going to work even harder.”

Furthermore, 1st and 3rd position player junior Ryan Gleason expressed that for certain games like this, it is important for the Apaches to “stay focused” to avoid the opposing team from getting in their heads. 

The game started first with Apaches’ defending, in which they exhibited their incredible skill by completing a double play, which happens when two of the three outs in an inning are made with the same play. The ball was also caught by Apache catchers, which was certainly not an easy catch to manage.

AHS JV Baseball Head Coach John Valerio commented on the overall performance and efforts Apaches displayed during the game as a “fairly good” game, which prepares all players for the actual season league. 

“This is a pre-season tournament game so we tried to use all the players on the roster. In that way they all get a chance into [positions] they look to play. There are 14 players on the roster and all of them played, which is certainly not an easy or a typical thing to do”, said Coach Valerio. “This game has a lot of highlights such as the double play from Gomez to Cooper, and Bryson also stole two bases. Pitchers also did really well!”

Even though the result was not what the team hoped for before the game, Coach Valerio still reassured the abilities among all players. He claimed that this game really prepared the Apaches well for the league in terms of the positions they are going to play, and everyone is looking to do well during the actual season.

With their efforts and the new tactics they had picked up from the game, they gave themselves experiences. As the league is approaching, it is without doubt that the Apaches will perform extraordinarily well after this experience. And with that being said,the league will start with the match between AHS and Pasadena High School on Feb. 28. Be sure to go out and support our Apaches!

Photo Courtesy of AUSD DCI Interns Samantha Tran and Alaina Lee