La Conner High baseball team swings for first time since 2018
Share
Tweet
March 17, 2021
IN GOOD STANDING---La Conner High catcher Kenai Zimmerman (21) awaits a pitch at Friday Harbor last week. The Braves were seeing their first baseball action in three years, missing out on the 2019 season due to low numbers and having the 2020 campaign wiped out by COVID-19. La Conner was shut out 27-0 in its debut against the Wolverines, then dropped a 12-2 road decision to Coupeville last Friday. Zimmerman, a freshman, drove in both La Conner runs at Coupeville. Photo by Karla Reynolds
They go in the books as a pair of double-digit losses, but the La Conner High baseball team’s setbacks at Friday Harbor and Coupeville last week represent a win-win situation of sorts for the Braves.
The team is back between the chalk lines after not seeing action since 2018. It is also, so far, prevailing over COVID-19.
La Conner was unable to field a baseball team in 2019 due to low numbers. The onset of the virus crisis last spring wiped out the 2020 baseball season.
Thus, the Braves’ 27-0 defeat at Friday Harbor in their March 9 season opener and 12-2 loss at Coupeville last Friday did not sting as much as might otherwise have been the case for a program used to deep playoff runs under coaches Jeremiah LeSourd and Andy Otis.
“Our first game was a chance to learn to relax and enjoy playing the game,” LeSourd said afterward. “It was awesome to see the boys on the field in a game for the first time in three years.”
The young La Conner lineup showed marked improvement three days later at Coupeville.
The Braves trailed just 3-2 midway through the game thanks to a pair of runs batted in from freshman catcher Kenai Zimmerman.
The host Wolves closed out the contest by plating nine unanswered runs.
“To say we are gaining experience is an understatement,” said LeSourd, noting that current Braves player Cameron Burks made the team roster in 2018 as an eighth grader.
“We have players doing this for the first time at the high school level,” LeSourd stressed. “I need them to believe they can do it and that belief system is starting to take hold. The message we keep giving them is we need them to believe in themselves because we believe in them.”
The Braves are scheduled to make their home debut at 4 p.m. Friday opposite NW2B newcomer Mount Vernon Christian.
Weather permitting, LeSourd and Otis have planned at least two intrasquad scrimmages this week in preparation for the league clash with MVC, a team that ironically has already played twice on the La Conner diamond this spring.
The Hurricanes have played “home” games at La Conner while awaiting the opening of the baseball field at Mount Vernon High School. The Northwest Conference, of which Mount Vernon High is a member, opted to launch its athletics calendar with fall rather than spring sports this month.
“We intend to have them ready,” LeSourd said of the Braves, “and believing in themselves.”
Reader Comments(0)