About half way through their normal season the Fair Grove Baseball team goes down to the annual “Wood Bat” tournament in Strafford. A “wood bat” tournament is where the players change up how they hit. So instead of using the normal metal baseball bat they would use a wooden one. Even though it doesn’t seem like much it can dramatically change how someone hits. This year the games started on Monday, April 16th, and came to an end on April 21st the following Saturday. Within that week  the team played 4 games going 1-3 (wins to losses). Although they had a victory against Norwood, 3 other teams including Buffalo, Seymour, and Springfield-Catholic all pulled ahead to beat them, this time.

This certain tournament wasn’t the teams best. One of the teams sophomores, Hale Beckley, agrees stating “It wasn’t our best outing, but there were some moments where we played like we should.” Even though the tournament didn’t really go as expected it wasn’t a total waste. The teams coach, Christian Overstreet, stated, “Hale has really stepped  up for us this year. He has become the second leading hitter on our team and continues to improve each game. He has also established himself as a leader on our team.” Rhett Hill, a junior, believes that the team could have done better with their hitting and all of the small things that add up at the end of the games.

Even with the team not doing their best at the tournament, Hale continues to believe in his team. He stated, “If we play like we are capable to, we should go far and compete for a district championship.”  Rhett is also very optimistic about the rest of the season saying, “We are excited heading into districts in a few weeks after getting a big win against Stockton.”