Phoenix looking to continue rise
By John Lipez
LOGANTON, PA – With numbers up and a solid nucleus back, the Sugar Valley Phoenix baseball team is looking for continued improvement.
17 Sugar Valley players are vying for playing time. From that group, four are seniors, three of whom had significant playing time a year ago. There are five returning starters in all and 10 returning letterwinners.
Coach Chuck Walizer said, “Our main goal is to solidify key spots that were questionable last year. We lost key experience and leadership due to graduation but have an exciting group of talent coming in.”
“Each year,” he continued, “we get more experience coming out to play which alleviates the need to spend valuable practice time teaching fundamentals from scratch, that is normally done at the Little League level. As with every year since we started the program, we have at least one member of the team who has never played baseball in any capacity.”
He did note that having more practice time to build on skill and hone in ability is a luxury that the SV program is just now getting a taste of.
Coach Walizer likes what he is seeing on the mound: Pitching is looking deeper than it has ever looked with more players in line than we have ever had. Catcher has been and is going to continue to be a big focus early on as we lost last year’s starter to graduation and the Air Force.”
Relative to the schedule, coach Walizer offered this, “As far as the schedule goes, other than thinking it needs to be moved back two weeks, across the board, I am fine with it. I am a firm believer that the start of the season is two weeks too early. Ultimately, we are going to be what our collective effort makes us. The team has high expectations for the season and knows that any success must be earned not wished for.”
The Phoenix will again use Taggart Field in Lock Haven for home games. The season opener is set for Taggart at 4:30 p.m. Friday against St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy from Boalsburg. First road contest is Wednesday, March 29 at Montgomery
