Dimond Baseball Is Off to Strong Start

Baseball returns to Dimond this year with more presence than the last few years. This year’s boys are a strong group backed by great parents and staff.

To start off the 2017 season, one of Dimond’s coaches, Kurt Rutger, has started practices early. Very early.

Practices started in the middle of February, although they were not official. Unofficial practices set up Dimond’s team ahead of the curve. Players with rusty arms can get back in the game, and newcomers to Dimond can see what all the fuss is about.

During these practices hosted in the small gym, players throw the ball around, and get to know other players and the coaches.

These practices are great for freshmen, since the jump to high school baseball can be intimidating.

This gesture, although it may not be huge, shows what dedication Dimond parents and staff have to the team.

Dimond alumni Billy Orth says, “I think Dimond has always had great parents and stuff, almost all the players have a strong backing.”

In addition to this support, players and parents are hosting a Fashion show. In this show students and players alike will walk out showing off Dimond apparel to raise money for the team.

A silent auction will also be held to raise more funds for the team.

All of this support is needed due to both Legion baseball in the summer, and the trips the Dimond team takes during the school year.

During the school year, the team generally takes a trip to Kenai for a tournament. This takes up a lot of funds.

In the summer the scholastic baseball season does not continue, but a league known as “Legions” among players, takes over. In Legions players go out of state and play more games, all expenses that take money out of the funds.

Grant Anderson, a senior at Dimond, commented on all of this; “I kind of wish they had all this support for the sports I did, it’s pretty cool to see all of the involvement,” he said.

Official baseball tryouts are going to be held after Spring Break, and they are set to be competitive.

Many seniors and juniors are returning this year to hold their spot. Varsity spots fill up fast so tryouts should be hard.

Last year 17 people filled the roster for varsity. The coaches did not want to cut many people because Dimond had such good players.

This many people on one team causes problems, however. There would be five or six players on the bench at a time.

Many times a few players from the varsity team would play in junior varsity games to get more play time, or just improve JV’s ranking.

There is speculation that they may take fewer players this year due to play time problems. This would make the competition even fiercer for a spot on the team.

This baseball season is already turning out to be good, and it seems as though everyone is excited to see what the team does this year.