Week Three Brings Conference Play

It is that time of year. Conference play has begun and the fight for a conference championship started off with a bang!

After having no games during the week, we went 3-0 this weekend as Lincoln Memorial came to The Reservation to kick off the conference season. We won the first game 9-2, the second 9-8 and the third 2-0 to complete the sweep of the Railsplitters.

I am lucky to be a part of an extremely hungry team who is refusing to walk away from this season with anything less than a conference championship. There are only two players (Wil Huneycutt and Nathan Furr) who have experienced winning a regular season conference title. This is a feat that the rest of our team is eager to reach.

There were three particular people who really stepped up and helped our team reach the sweep. These three were either not noticed, simply got looked over or their “shining moment” got forgotten by many.

The first person who needs to be recognized is Mario Parisi. He is a freshman from Shirley, New York who has switched positions several times since he has become a member of this team. That can be a very frustrating experience but Mario does not let that get in the way of his support for this team.

Throughout the games this weekend, Mario was extremely into what was going on and cheering on everybody. He truly kept the dugout alive and was a great support to me when I would hear him cheering.

One of the characteristics of a great team is one which fully supports each other and fills each specific role with the understanding that every role is different and just as important as the other. Mario is one of the great examples of people who put this idea to work.

The second “hero” of the week in my eyes was Wil Huneycutt. Wil is the definition of consistency on a baseball field. I honestly could put him in this blog every single week, as he always gets the job done.

One of the main things I notice when Wil enters the game is the comfort and confidence every player gains in knowing that everything is now under control. It appears that a sigh of relief comes across our faces because he is just that good.

Often times he goes unnoticed because he is far from flashy, he usually throws in the middle to late innings, and he just never appears to be in trouble to have opportunities to get out of trouble.

This weekend Wil entered the first game in the 7th inning with two runners on base and two outs and struck out the batter. He then went on to have a great 8th inning only allowing a 2 out, infield single.

Huneycutt also threw in the first game of the double-header, coming in for the 8th inning of an 8-6 ball game. Wil did a great job as he got through the frame allowing only one run on two hits and obtaining two strikeouts. As he always seems to do, Wil entered the game with a lead and left it the same way.

The job Wil does game by game is unbelievable and he does not receive nearly enough credit for how well he performs every time he pitches.

The third shout out this week goes to my partner up the middle, Julio Zubillaga. In the 2nd inning of the 2nd game of the series, Zubi (as he is known), hit his first career homerun as a Catawba Indian.

Leading off the inning, he got a fastball and he did not miss it. He made solid contact and hit a homerun over the left-centerfield fence which was a no-doubter as soon as it left the bat.

We were all extremely excited for Zubi and even more excited when his lead-off homerun led to a 3-run inning and an early lead.

Due to a lot of ups and downs late in game 2, many people let Zubi’s homerun slip their mind, but this was a big moment in his career. It is always extremely exciting when players accomplish something for the first time and I get to experience and be a part of this excitement with them.

Getting the sweep in our first conference series made for a great third week of the season! We are all looking forward to a home game Wednesday against Barton and a trip to Mars Hill for a weekend, conference series!