The growth continues for the Heritage Academy fast-pitch softball program.
You can see it at the softball facility, where improvements to the backstop, dugout areas, and infield have the field looking ready to host the best teams in the state.
Chris Ball plans to work hard to help the Patriots compete with all of those teams. With a lot of youth on a 16-player roster, Ball intends to focus on the fundamentals to help the program continue to move forward.
“We are very young and still learning the game,” said Ball, who is the program’s third coach in as many season. He takes over for Mickey Allen, who left the school to take a job at Columbus High School. “I think only three girls can drive themselves to the practice, so there is a lot of hands-on work with their parents back and forth to practice. It is a good thing for the future as far as them being young, so we will teach them a lot about the game. I hope they will enjoy it to keep playing so we will be able to reap the benefits later on.”
Ball will serve as interim head coach this season. He will work with former Winston Academy baseball coach Justin Flake, who was recently hired. Heritage Academy Athletic Director said he wasn’t sure when Flake would be able to arrive to be with the team, but he said the plan is to have Flake take over the program in 2018.
Heritage Academy will take on West Point at 4 p.m. Friday in the season opener for both teams. The varsity game will follow the junior varsity game.
Despite the youth, Ball intends to help hold the Patriots accountable. He said his job is to keep the players interested in learning so the program will be able to grow. With daughters Olivia and Carson, who are 11 and 8 years old, Ball said the coaches have to help the players “learn to love the game” so they will want to put the work in to improve.
“There has to be a lot of positives, a lot of caring and a lot of love,” Ball said. “You can’t go after it full speed early with them or they will fade out.”
Senior first baseman Hayley Martin and senior outfielder Kaitlyn Hocutt feel the players have responded to the quick transition at the program.
“He is tougher,” Martin said of Ball. “I think we will play better and be more disciplined.”
Ball said “learning the little things” about softball and the game will be one of the biggest challenges for a young team. He feels it will be a fun group to coach that is going to be exciting to watch.
Martin and Hocutt hope that is the case, too. They know they will shoulder responsibility as two of the most experienced players to lead the way.
“I have seen a big improvement,” Hocutt said. “The younger girls are coming together with the older girls and we are becoming more of a team.
“It is going to be harder because there are more younger girls than older girls. We expect to be good. It is still going to be harder, but we can do it.”
Said Martin, “We’re a younger team, so we’re not as strong (physically) as the other teams. Some of them have never played before, so it will be kind of hard to get them where they need to be, but I think they will get there.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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