Valley Center is familiar with 5A baseball
Valley Center wasn't close to being the best baseball team in its league last season. But the level of competition it faced in larger Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League schools gave it an advantage against opponents in the Class 4A postseason.
With thickened skin, the Hornets breezed through their regional bracket and upset undefeated No. 1 seed Silver Lake in the 4A tournament before finishing fourth.
Valley Center lost one player from that team. But there's a new obstacle this year — moving to 5A for postseason play.
"Last season we still did play a 5A schedule," Valley Center ace Nate Williams said. "So we were playing the top dogs every week.... There's a big difference in 5A baseball and 4A baseball. So to make a run in 5A this year, we're definitely going to have to play the best baseball that we can and play the same caliber of baseball that we played last year at the 4A level."
Valley Center was 2-14 against 5A and 6A opponents last season. The Hornets have started off this season 2-2 but were swept by 5A opponent Salina South. Williams, a Kansas State signee, pitched a solid game in the team's first loss, striking out eight and allowing one run on two hits in four innings. Valley Center held a 4-1 lead when he was pulled, and Valley Center lost 7-6.
Williams has a 1.00 ERA with 15 strikeouts in seven innings. He and senior catcher Andre Vieyra have developed into team leaders for fifth-year coach Chad Gerwick.
Vieyra is one of the Hornets' most consistent hitters, hitting .600 with two home runs and seven RBIs after hitting .375 last season.
"Getting a taste of those wins last year showed those guys what they can do," Gerwick said. "It was obviously good leading into this year. Our seniors have been a lot more focused. We've had really good practices up to this point. Our first doubleheader last week, we did a lot of things well. We probably are a couple of steps ahead of where we would usually be at this point."
What will determine how far Valley Center will go this season is how consistent the supporting cast can play.
"We have a lot of seniors and juniors," Vieyra said. "Last year we were younger and a lot more inexperienced as sophomores and juniors. I think that maturity is an advantage for us."
Gerwick's team needs to do more of the little things — efficiency with runners in scoring position, protecting leages, playing with confidence — in order to be a consistent winner at the 5A level.
Valley Center will be placed in a regional with Salina South, Salina Central, McPherson, Newton, Hays, Great Bend and Topeka West. Using Williams as his No. 1 starter and possibly Vieyra or senior Cooper Russ as No. 2, Gerwick likes Valley Center's chances of advancing if his team is playing its best baseball at the end of the season as it did last season.
"You can do some damage if you have two good arms," Gerwick said. "And I think we have that as long as we're healthy at that point and time in the year."