Playing on a team is a rewarding feeling, especially when the team is seasoned together. Baseball, like other sports, requires practice and passion, so having a dedication to it makes both aspects stronger. To help build the team’s focus and strengthen the teamwork, Monarch High School has a summer season for baseball players as well as a spring and fall season. During the summer, the team plays other summer baseball teams from other schools or programs around the country.

Centerfielder senior Logan Berghoefer has been playing the sport since he was six years old and plays about nine months a year.  “I think [having a summer season] is definitely beneficial. We had a bunch of out going seniors, so during the summer season, we bring up guys from JV to play with the leftover varsity players to develop the team that will be in the spring season. Fall season, everybody goes in their own direction. It’s about developing your own personal skills. So, by spring season, we already know our strengths and areas to improve,” said Berghoefer.

Last spring, centerfield graduate Logan Soole signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Although the team lost a major key player, a new key player emerged, senior Zack Berohn. Berohn quit football, in which he was the quarterback, to focus on pursuing his baseball career.

“I’m trying to play college baseball and fall is the recruiting season, so I can’t play football,” said Berohn. “I play three seasons of baseball. The summer and fall are a good time to work on things and get better, and the fall is really important if you want to play for college. The spring is when the actual season happens, but it’s not when recruitment really happens. ”

In July, the team traveled for the Firework Tournament in California and returned home with a record of 2-2. The majority of the teams were from California, so the competition was tough. Unfortunately, the team had many injuries that led to a less successful record than they would have liked.

“[The tournament] wasn’t our best. We were a little shaky. That’s when a lot of our guys started getting hurt, a lot of our starters, so it was difficult to overcome the injuries. But all in all, definitely a good team bonding experience. We took things that we learned, whether it was good or bad, and we got better,” said Berghoefer. “One of our key injuries was our starting baseman, [senior] Zach Sattler. He tore pectoral muscle, which was major because he was a major key in our lineup and was a major defensive player. That was definitely hurting our team.”

Despite the injuries from the summer, the Monarch High School baseball team continues to play the following seasons with confidence and hope.

“[The season] is going to go well. We have a lot of underclassmen who are going to step up, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the season goes,” said Sattler.