Wildcat Baseball – Looking Promising
MILL HALL — If you follow area amateur baseball, you know full well the success of the Keystone Little League team from 2011, the blue crew which did the community proud with its third place US finish at the Little League World Series.
Five years later and guess what? The nucleus of that team provides the nucleus of the Central Mountain High School team this spring and while the Wildcats may not be third in the country this year, they look to be very good as the season unfolds.
Scan the Central Mountain roster and you’ll find seven players from that 2011 Keystone squad:
seniors Alex Garbrick, Cole Reeder, Wyatt Koch, and Talon Falls; plus juniors Brandon Miller, Ethan Watkins and Landon Breon. Throw in seniors Isaac Porter and Toner Corl, a couple standouts from a very good 2010 Keystone team and you’ve got a roster-full of talent with a lot of versatility on the field, on the mound and at the plate.
It falls upon veteran coach Mike Kramer to distribute the talent to compete in an always challenging District 6 Quad-A field. He said he looks for a 100 percent effort in practice and games and good things should happen: “They should be an exciting team to watch. I expect our pitchers to throw strikes, compete, and give our team a chance to win every game. I expect each batter in our lineup to have quality at bats. By doing this, good things will happen. Defensively is what we take pride in, and I expect our team to play solid defense.”
Lettermen returning include catchers Porter and Koch; pitchers Garbrick, Corl and Reeder; infielder Falls and outfielder Miller. The versatile squad will see many of the letter-winners performing at multiple positions. Three of them have already committed to their college choices for next year: Porter to St. Bonaventure, Corl to Lock Haven University and Reeder to Mount St. Marys.
Others vying for playing time will include Watkins and Breon, along with sophomores Asher Corl and Austyn Carson and seniors Colin Treaster, Conner Bauman, Devin Nyman and junior Bobby George. Another 20 players are on the Wildcat jayvee squad.
Central Mountain has been successful over the years, including a four-year stretch as District 6 runner-up from 2011 to 2014. Despite a 13-6 regular season a year ago, the Wildcats fell in the district semifinal round to nemesis State College. Kramer knows the postseason will again be difficult: “The District 6 AAAA teams are going to be very competitive. Mifflin County returns a quality team that is expected to do very well, Altoona will return a good squad, and State College returns a good nucleus with pitching from last year’s D6 Championship team.”
The Wildcats are again part of the District 4-dominated Heartland Conference; Kramer said that league should be competitive with the likes of Mifflinburg, Shikellamy, Selinsgrove, Montoursville and Jersey Shore.
Home games will again be played at Mill Hall Community Park as there has been no recent movement towards previously announced plans to develop a baseball field at the Central Mountain High School complex. Jayvee games will again be played in Beech Creek.
Coach Kramer renewed what he believes it will take for this year’s team to again be successful. “Our goals as a program are consistent with our team philosophy. Win everything we do. Win our classes, our workouts, our practices, our relationships, etc. We have short term goals of winning the next pitch, the next inning, which leads to our next game. This short term goal repeats each and every day. We want to win the HAC1, win District VI AAAA, and ultimately win the state title.”
