Cardinal’s 2022 Baseball Season: Lessons in Mistakes & Teamwork

Ryan Renfrew, Varsity Baseball Coach · posted September 28, 2022

Our baseball season kicked off on May 23 against Danville after three preseason games and a full month of practices. The boys were excited to start the season and it showed on the field with a 5-0 win at home — we came out a little tight but that was to be expected. The next week saw us go back and forth with a lot of lineup adjustments. Every season starts out with a feeling-out period and the 2022 season was no different.

After starting the season at 4-3 and feeling down after a poor showing at Albia, the team came to an understanding that we were not playing to our potential. The team leaders organized a player-only midnight practice before leaving at 7 a.m. the next morning for a doubleheader at BGM. After their practice, the boys came out sluggish and tired, but we were able to get two wins, and I feel that was a changing point to our season. We went 5-1 over the next six games and the team really started to believe in themselves. After a couple of tough conference losses to New London and Burlington Notre Dame, the team regrouped once again. We finished the season going 8-1 over the last two weeks to finish the regular season on a high.

During this last stretch, we had a couple of big wins over Sigourney and an undefeated Mediapolis team. The boys were believing in each other and started to put the team philosophy over their individual results. For a team sport like baseball, team play will win over individual play almost every time, the boys started to feel this, and I think they embraced it.

Heading into the playoffs we were the #3 seed and were able to host a playoff game against Central Lee. Our confidence was high, and we came out strong in the first inning putting up eight runs and cruised to a 10-1 win. Then we were off to Mediapolis to play the #2 seed, Mid-Prairie. They were last year’s district winners and have had a very successful couple of years. We fell 0-4 in a tight game on a 100-degree day. Mid-Prairie went on to win the district as well as the Substate game sending them on to State, eventually finishing 3rd in 2A.

We were a senior-heavy team this year, and some of the most memorable moments I had as a coach were watching them take it all in. There is nothing harder than watching athletes come to the realization that this may be the last time they set foot on a competitive baseball field. When the moment happens, it’s hard on everyone, but it’s such a great learning moment on this path we call life.

This team had some really solid athletes. We learned about baseball as the season went on and spent a large amount of time talking about how to be good people, good teammates, and ways to positively encourage each other. Baseball is often referred to as a game of mistakes; our coaching staff continually reminded the guys that it’s not if a mistake happens, it’s when. We will be judged by how we rebound from these mistakes because that’s how life works. Mistakes will happen, we have to own it and learn to recover quickly. The most common words out of my mouth this year were, “Worry about the things you have control over, don’t stress things you have no control over.” Strategically this was our biggest hurdle, and I felt we did a solid job of responding better as the season progressed.

First, some recognition to our six seniors: Landon Becker, Blaine Bryant, Tristin Cloke, Kaleb Figueroa, Matt Streeby, and Donald Peterson. We had a couple of big honors for our individual players this year.

• 1st Team All-Conference: Landon Becker, Carson Kenney, and Blaine Bryant.
• 2nd Team All-Conference: Tatem Telfer, Josh Courtney, Kaleb Figueroa, Tristin Cloke, and Drake Durflinger.
• All Conference Honorable Mention: Quinn Snyder and Gavin Ware.
• 1st Team All District: Landon Becker (Pitcher) 

Next year we hope to keep the momentum that was started this year and run with it. We had a lot of underclassmen get significant playing time and our hope is that gets us out of the gates strong next season. Next year’s team will have a completely different feel and strategy going into the season. Our pitching should be strong, and our hope is that we can find some bats to make up for what we lost in Seniors from the 2022 class. We will be joining the South Central Conference next season and competing against some very established and successful baseball programs so we are looking forward to the challenge.