Being part of a sport is something a lot of people in high school face, but being the starting pitcher of the varsity baseball team is not so common. For Eric White he gets to say this. He has been apart of the baseball team since freshman year and has flourished greatly. “Pitching differs from every position because when you pitch you’re the one controlling the game and it takes a lot of mental strength to be successful while pitching,” said White.  

White says that pitching is honestly one of the easier positions because if you can locate your spots and keep batters off balance at the plate you’ll be successful. What pitchers do face though is the difference of batters but a strong mentality can take you a long way. “I don’t really feel anything when a good hitter comes up my mentality is whoever comes up I can strike out,” White said.

Challenges arise when facing stronger competitors, varsity took on undefeated vianney this season and went in with the right mindset. The pitcher has a lot of pressure at the start of play, all eyes on him waiting for him to release the ball to start it all. “When we faced Vianney I had a lot of pressure on me because they were undefeated and I wanted to get a win off them,” said White. “So before and during the game I had a lot of pressure to keep that mindset.”

Central ended up beating Vianney 7-5. Overall the season was decent, always room for improvements. As the pitcher you lead the whole team, and have to find a way to make the whole team work as one. “If someone didn’t make a play and is down about it I usually go up to them and tell them to shake it off and get the next play,” White said. “Sometimes when the dugout is quiet I tell them to get up and get loud because the more the energy we have the better and lose we will play.”

As the season comes to an end, it’s always hard to say goodbye to the seniors. Especially with such a low number of students. “This year we didn’t have a lot of seniors, only 3.” Said White “So I got a chance to get close with all of them so it will be sad not seeing them next year. I don’t think it will hurt the team overall because next year we’re going to have double the amount of seniors we had this year.

With that being said, next years team is going to be jam packed with seniors. Most have been on varsity for at least a year and club baseball takes place over the summer so it’s exciting to see the talent that will be brought to the plate next year.