GREENFIELD — Primed to defend their second sectional championship in three years, the Greenfield-Central baseball team instead had to watch an opportunity simply slip away last March.
Like most baseball teams across the state, the lost 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hit the Cougars hard, both emotionally and on paper.
Gone are a combined 43 RBI, 54 runs scored, 11 doubles, and five home runs formerly produced in 2019 by the now graduated class of 2020.
Those are big numbers to replace for the present-day Cougars, but the 2019 Hoosier Heritage Conference champions aren’t looking backwards.
They’ve regrouped and are ready to restart in 2021.
“It was a little daunting to think about what we lost, and then when you started looking at who we had coming back, we had a pretty solid core of good kids with some ability. That makes it a little bit more exciting,” Greenfield-Central head coach Mark Vail said. “Everybody is pretty excited about it. We all missed it.”
The hiatus officially ends tonight at Molinder Field when the revamped Cougars play host to Frankton at 5:30 p.m.
Overall, the Cougars will showcase seven seniors throughout their lineup. Five will be in the field and three in the starting rotation with some positional assignments when not pitching.
However, several of them were either role players for the 2019 sectional champions or at the junior varsity level the last time a first pitch was thrown.
“We’re definitely all going into this a little bit blind because of not playing last year and having so many uncertainties, but there are a lot of players. I think it’s going to be difficult, but we’re going to find out,” Vail said. “I really like the players that we have offensively. I really think there’s a lot of potential there. But, it still remains to be seen how we perform at the varsity level.”
While questions surround the Cougars, who lost some offseason training time in December and January, they’re eager to see what they have before the HHC portion of their schedule opens on Tuesday at New Castle.
In 2019, the Cougars won the HHC with a record of 11-3 and finished the season 21-8 by reaching the regional championship game against Avon.
This is a new year, however, and one with a few familiar faces and names.
Among the key returners is senior shortstop Carson Gibson, who is committed to play at Indiana Wesleyan. A starter as a sophomore on the 2019 squad, Gibson enters his final season as the team’s most consistent hitter.
Two years ago, Gibson hit .325, scored 28 runs, had seven stolen bases and four RBI in 77 at-bats and 113 plate appearances.
Next in line is senior Gavin Atwood at catcher, who sported a fielding percentage of 1.000 in 23 games played with 118 total chances and 115 put outs and three assists.
“Gavin is experienced. He caught quite a bit as a sophomore, so we’re looking for him to be pretty stable back there,” Vail said.
Senior Parker Stanley made an impact in limited at-bats in 2019, hitting .417 in 16 plate appearances. His primary role this season will be on the mound as one of five vying for innings.
Stanley had eight appearances as a sophomore with a 2.00 ERA in 7.0 innings pitched and 21 strikeouts. Senior Jacob Riegle will be one of the Cougars’ top-three hurlers along with senior Brandon Jenkins.
The trio will be backed by sophomores Andrew Zellers and Connor Sims, who has garnered plenty of offseason work through the travel baseball ranks.
“It’s going to be fluid for the first couple of weeks, to be honest, all the way through,” Vail said. “It feels a little bit like starting over because we have so many new faces at the varsity level. And, we’re probably still feeling like we’re a little bit behind, but I think we’re starting to catch up.”
At first base, senior Adam Martin is the projected starter, while Joey Roland, a junior, will handle second base. Jaden McGee, a junior, will patrol third base.
The outfield will include senior Grant Shepherd in left, senior Lance McKee in center and Riegle in right. When Riegle is pitching, Zellers and others will fill in the hole in the outfield.
Leadership will come from the top, Vail says, particularly from those players that were on the field and in the dugout when the Cougars beat Cathedral 4-1 during the Decatur Central Regional semifinal before falling to Avon 9-2 in the championship.
“I think Gavin, Parker and Carson, those three were a big part of that program in 2019, so I think they understand what it takes, and they’re trying to convince everyone else,” Vail said.
“(Tonight), we just want to be really consistent, defensively, and I understand that we haven’t been on the field very much, and I understand there may be some mistakes made, but I really want to see us be competitive and keep our heads in the game mentally.”
As with any season, the Cougars aren’t expecting anything to be handed to them because of the past. They are preparing to earn everything day by day.
“We talked a lot about (2019) last year going in, and then when the season was lost, we’ve just talked about the expectation to perform and the expectation to represent yourself well,” Vail said. “I think the kids feel (the tradition), and though we haven’t talked about it too much in the preseason, once we get started, I think we will start realizing that a little bit more.”
