Kenton Ridge seeking fourth straight district appearance
After a season away, Cougars set to resume customary dominance.
The Kenton Ridge High School baseball team will have a host of new faces as it seeks to advance to the district tournament for the fourth straight season.
In 2019, the Cougars went 22-6, falling to Hamilton Ross 1-0 in a D-II district final. With last season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cougars graduated eight seniors, including returning Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division Player of the Year Calvin Dibert.
After a season away from the field, the Cougars are ready to keep their district final streak alive.
“It’s just great to be back outside on the field playing baseball,” said Cougars coach
Aaron Shaffer. “It’s something that sometimes you take for granted. You had it taken away last year and it was tough on everybody, tough on our senior class. We had eight seniors last year. You hate it for them and you hate it for everybody. It’s good to get back out there.”
The Cougars return three
seniors who saw action as sophomores in 2019, including full-time first baseman Justin Maurer. Evan Houseman and Matt Wichael each saw time in limited roles.
“Basically, you’re dealing with a whole new roster,” Shaffer said. “For the most part, everybody on our roster at the varsity level is new. It’s a lot different than in years past. You usually have four, five or six guys coming back with experience and we don’t have that. It’s a learning process for everybody. We’re getting there.”
Juniors Jordan Fent and Tyler Fultz, sophomore Keller Fultz and freshmen Logan Fyffe and Caleb Obee will play key roles this spring.
“We’re excited about our new guys,” Shaffer said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are showing a lot of promise. We’re ready to get rolling.”
In the preseason, the
Cougars have looked strong at the plate, Shaffer said. The key will be finding the right pieces for their pitching rotation, he said.
The Cougars play seven games in the first week of the season, including an early CBC crossover against Urbana on April 2.
“We’re hoping after the first week we can kind of get an idea of our pitching staff and figure out what guys can do.” Shaffer said. “It’s really going to be a test that first week. Our pitchers are going to have to be around the plate and throw strikes. We’ll need everybody that first week. It’s going to be all hands on deck.”
The Cougars won four straight Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division championships between 2015 and 2018 but finished tied for second with Shawnee, two games back of champion Jonathan Alder, in 2019. After missing last season, the conference race will be up for grabs this spring, Shaffer said.
“I think it’s wide open,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting this first week to see how it shakes out. I’m interested to see some of the scores and see what some of these teams got. I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know.
“That kind of makes it exciting, too. It’s wide open. You don’t know who’s got what and you’re going to see some surprises from schools. That’s going to be a unique thing about this season.”