By Maya Kostov

With stunning defense and stealthy base-running, the TPA varsity baseball team took an 11-4 win against Chandler Prep this past month. The team had an impressive 7-3 overall record as of the end of March.

For this team, it’s a year of re-building. Since graduating five starters from last year’s team, the boys have worked very hard to bond with one another and it is really paying off. Coach Kandler comments that, “Some boys have been playing together on the same teams since they were eight years old.”

As you can expect, the team’s chemistry has really blossomed because of that. Friendships, especially ones made participating in sports, tend to last a lifetime. What is particularly interesting about baseball is that it’s a weird mix between interacting with teammates and playing for yourself.

Other sports require teamwork between the players, whether it be setting a screen for a teammate or running alongside them for an outlet pass. However, baseball seems to really be a solo kind of sport. A hitter stands all alone in a face-off against a pitcher. But, somehow, this team still manages to have a certain kind of unexplainable chemistry on and off the field. This is a quality that many teams do not have.

Although the team has had some ups and downs, they show “tremendous improvement,” according to the coach. Now in the height of the baseball season, look forward to seeing what the team has in store!