A curveball from the weather

Baseball team continues with season while enduring bad playing conditions

Sophomore+Jacob+Bauman+returns+to+first+base+after+scoring+a+hit+against+Summit+Academy+during+the+game+on+April+6.

Sophomore Jacob Bauman returns to first base after scoring a hit against Summit Academy during the game on April 6.

So far, the baseball team has had a lot of problems with playing their games. The problems don’t come from the team, but rather a force they can’t control. Instead, the root of their problems have come from the weather, and there isn’t much they can do about it.

The team started their season off with a scrimmage against Fort Cherry on March 17 at Pullman Park in Butler, with Freedom being the home team. The team prevailed, winning the scrimmage 4-1.

The team also competed against Western Beaver on March 19 in a scrimmage for their home-opener for the season. The Bulldogs fought hard and earned a win of 5-4 over Western Beaver.

Due to the bad weather, the team had several cancellations, including their home-opener against Rochester on March 23.This has greatly affected the team, as they have not had a lot of time to practice outside due to the rain, so as an alternative, they have been forced to practice elsewhere.

“We have been practicing inside the gym and going to New Castle for a partially turf field baseball field. It’s been hard. It’s hard to adjust from practicing inside to playing outside. We’ve only had one outside practice this year,” senior player Joshua Beck said.

The baseball team also got approval from the school board to assemble a batting cage outside where the old, fenced-in pool area used to be, before it was put out of use. The baseball team will be in charge of building new steps up to the area, as the old stairs were deemed unsafe and torn off.

Despite the bad weather, the team did manage to have a game on March 31 against Riverside. The team won with a win of 1-0, with junior Noah Yeck shutting out Riverside.

The team also traveled to Neshannock for a game on April 2. Freedom got shutout, losing the game 10-0, with only one hit from sophomore Maxwell Ujhazy. The team is working on improvement and doing the best they can to be the best team in the league.

“I believe we have to work on our hitting. Hitting is definitely our downfall from last year. We lost many players from last year that contributed to our successful hitting,” Beck said.

The team had their home-opener against Summit Academy in a doubleheader on April 6. In the first game, junior pitchers David Jansen and Yeck shutout the other team with a final score of 17-0, with a mercy rule after the third inning. In the second game, the Bulldogs won again 15-0, with six runs in the fourth inning.

Following the back-to-back wins, the Bulldogs travelled to OLSH on April 9 and North Catholic on April 11 in order to play both of the team. The BUlldogs lost both games 9-1 and 10-0, respectively.

On April 12, the team decided to give the junior varsity players a chance to play against Beaver. Both teams agreed to start junior varsity players in order to give them some experience in playing. The Bulldogs started off with an early lead after the second inning, but ended up losing the game 21-6.

The team held their next game against Shenango. The team started off strong with a triple in the bottom of the first inning from junior Zachary Rosa that scored three runs. Despite the early lead, the team ended up losing against the Wildcats 10-9.

The Bulldogs continued with season with a game against Riverside on April 18. Despite Riverside taking an early lead , Freedom fought back in the bottom of the fourth inning and scored four runs. However, this was not enough to win the game, as the team was defeated 14-4.

Despite the losses, the team still managed to picked up two wins by way of forfeit, as Aliquippa forfeited both of their games that were originally on April 18 and May 4 against Freedom due to a lack of players.

The team continues their season with a game on April 30 at OLSH, followed by a game at home against Laurel on May 2. Following that, the team finishes the regular season with a game against Quaker Valley at home on May 7 and the last game at South Side on May 10 to conclude the regular season.