Having fun sounds like a simple proposition, especially when you’re playing a game you love.
But Payton Lane realized midway through his sophomore season at Mississippi Delta Community College he wasn’t enjoying himself as much as he wanted to.
Following a strong start to the 2017 campaign, it dawned on Lane that he wasn’t attracting a lot of attention from coaches from four-year schools. That wasn’t a pleasing notion for someone who had designs on continuing his baseball career for at least another two years.
“I got a little nervous and my stats dipped a little bit,” Lane said Monday. “But I didn’t worry about it and decided I had to play my best and whatever happens happens.”
That change in thinking helped Lane close the season in a flurry and, ultimately, enabled him to extend his baseball career. Last week, Lane took another step closer to that goal when he made a verbal commitment to play at perennial Division II powerhouse Delta State in Cleveland.
“I am excited,” said Lane, a former standout at New Hope High School in Columbus. “I have been on the campus and I really like it. The fact that I know I am going to be a part of that school and not just visiting is something I like and look forward to.”
Lane said he gave his verbal commitment last Tuesday after a visit to the Delta State campus about a week and a half ago. Today, Lane will be in Cleveland again for orientation at the school. He said he wasn’t sure if he would sign a National Letter of Intent today.
Lane will join Mike Kinnison’s storied program that is coming off a 45-13 finish, its 12th regional championship, and a trip to the College World Series. Lane said he is blessed to receive an opportunity to join a program with so much history.
“It always has been a top-notch program and is always competing to go to the World Series or is in the World Series and promoting its players,” Lane said.
Lane said he likely had traveled to Delta State “a dozen times” in the last two years while he was at Mississippi Delta C.C., which is in Moorhead. He said he went to Delta State to watch baseball games and to hang out with people he knew. Still, he didn’t know if he would get a chance to keep playing baseball midway through the year. A finish that saw him wind up second on the team in batting average (.364), tied for second in hits (60), third in doubles (12), second in on-base percentage (.432), and fourth in RBIs (38) and slugging percentage (.509) helped him set a course for the next two years.
Mississippi Delta C.C. assistant coach Jarrod Parks, a former head coach at Starkville Academy, praised Lane for the work he did with the coaches to make little changes to his swing. He said Lane, a right-handed hitter, learned how not to stop his momentum going toward the pitcher, which enabled him to be a more effective hitter to all parts of the field, particularly the right side.
“He took (the changes to his swing) well,” Parks said. “It was a tough spot in his career doing as well as he was doing and having new coaches come in and make slight changes to his swing. It was hard for me, too, whenever I had to change my swing a lot at (Mississippi) State. But he asked the right questions and did the right things.”
Parks also credited Lane for not getting too down when he realized he hadn’t found a place to play for the 2017-2018 season. He said a lot of players find themselves in a similar situation, but he said Lane did the best he could to forget about the future and to concentrate on making the best of the situation. He said Lane took the attitude that something good was going to happen if it was meant to be. It turns out that thinking proved to be true.
“We needed him toward the end of the year,” Parks said. “He made some big jumps at the end of the year and got some big hits for us.”
Parks said he expects Lane “to make an impact” at Delta State because he was a leader at Mississippi Delta C.C. Lane is looking forward to doing just that. He said he is confident he will find a place to play as long as he hits the baseball like he knows he can.
If Lane starts to doubt himself, all he has to do is relax and realize he needs to have fun and everything will take care of itself.
“Coming into the season, I knew it was possibly my last chance so I better do what I am going to do and do it right,” Lane said. “I am glad I had the season I did. I quit caring about it and stopped thinking about my stats and what college I was going to go to and tried to do the best for my team. I started having fun again. When I started to have fun again everything clicked.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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