Sugar Valley baseball ready for season number six

RecordStaffMarch 27, 2021

2 minutes read

Front row, from the left, Levi Galentine, Jordan Litz, Kadin Leigey, Isaiah Conaway; back row, Cayden Weaver, Corbin Homan, Blaine Falk, Coehen Homan, Collin Leonard. Not present: Gavin Vonada, Isaiah Nearhoof, Noah Pletcher, Hunter Showers, Stuart Meixel, Blaine Walizer.

LOGANTON, PA – The Sugar Valley Rural Charter School baseball team brings back a good nucleus from the last two years, eight having played since 2019 and ten from a year ago. They are part of a 15-player Phoenix squad: three seniors, four juniors, five sophomores and three freshmen (it should be noted also that five squad members also belong to the school’s National Honor Society).

Head coach Chuck Walizer said the Phoenix is excited to get the season underway, having lost last year to the pandemic. First up the season opener Wednesday, March 31, home with Muncy at 4:30 p.m. The team’s home contests will be played at Taggart Field in Lock Haven, through an agreement with the city and the Babe Ruth League which also utilizes the field.

The coach said, “We have a good core group of athletes taking the field that have played together for a few years and have helped each other mature as players and as young men. They are a tight group of young men who work hard and are very receptive to coaching.”

Coach Walizer said the team’s biggest strength has been the mark of this team since the program’s first game in 2016: “These guys do not quit, they just don’t give up. From day one we have talked about the uphill climb we have as a program starting from scratch back in 2016 with guys that never played before going up against teams that quite frankly have been together longer than some of our guys had been playing the game period.”

“This uphill climb has been looked at the same from day one as it is now, just play the game. Our biggest weakness also carries over from day one, experience or lack thereof in some places. With a relatively inexperienced team, compared to many others experience plays a huge role in every game. To counter this lack of experience our program has adopted a greater emphasis on teamwork and personal responsibility guided by two mantras: “do your job” and “I am because we are.”

While home games are played in Lock Haven, Sugar Valley practices at the old Sugar Valley baseball field south of the Scenic Ridge Foods building; thanks to a cooperative agreement among Loganton Borough, the charter school and property owner Sam Lapp.