Perona Key To Cardinal Success

FARMINGTON — Farmington 2018 graduate Derek Perona admires Farmington baseball coach Jay Harper as a role model, who Perona observes, “He works super hard at what he does.”

Perona’s favorite slogan is Harper’s motto, “Win the inning.”

“That’s really big for me,” Perona said. “You focus on one inning at a time instead of the whole game. You focus on doing the best you can in one inning.”

Perona said that keeps a player from worrying about not messing up. Perona recently committed to continue his baseball career as pitcher for the University of the Ozarks at Clarksville. Perona was among six Cardinals voted to the 5A West All-Conference baseball team during Farmington’s last season as a member of the league in which they qualified for state.

Perona also was named All-State. He excelled on the mound and was a major contributing factor as Farmington finished 15-10 overall with a 7-6 conference mark. The Cardinals placed third in the 5A West Conference tournament advancing to state where they ran into eventual State 5A Runner-Up, Watson’s Chapel, and lost 8-1.

Perona was hit in the midsection by a line drive late in that game and had to come out. A resilient athlete, he rebounded to compete in the Babe Ruth Southwest Regional baseball tournament for boys 16-18 in July at Fayetteville as part of the Northwest Arkansas All-Stars.

“It (pain) didn’t last that long,” Perona said. “Probably the next day and I was good after that. I was able to come back this summer and start pitching again.”

The success admittedly came as a pleasant surprise for Harper. According to Harper, graduation took away 92 percent of the Cardinals’ offensive production and three of the top five pitchers. Perona started 11 games, compiling a 7-2 record, and won 78 percent of the decisions in which he was involved. In his 11 appearances, Perona threw 906 pitches, the most of anyone on the Cardinal staff. Classmate Ben Silvis was second with 523.

hour before taking the field.

“I was just in the mindset that night to go out there and do the best I could, and try and not let them score,” Perona said. “During the game I didn’t realize I was doing that good.”

In the last inning Farmington coach Jay Harper told Perona he was nearing the pitch-count where according to Arkansas Activities Associaton rules he would have to come out of the game. Harper exhorted Perona to wrap the game up so the Cardinals wouldn’t have to change pitchers. Perona executed the game plan.

“He said I had like 10 pitches left,” Perona said.

Perona struck out two batters and induced a pop-up to end the game. He was so focused on the task at hand the significance of what had just been accomplished didn’t dawn on him. Coaches and teammates were quick to congratulate him as he came off the mound.

“After the game they told me I had 16 strike-outs and 18 of the (21) outs. I was like, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t expect that because I was just going out there and pitching. I wasn’t really thinking about it so it was pretty cool after the game to find that out.”

Perona wears a necklace displaying baseball bats in the shape of a cross, a symbol that has become popular among the current generation.

“You always have to follow God and see what he does for you so just having a cross with me all the time and playing with baseball bats cause I love baseball and playing just means a big deal to me cause you always have to follow back to him and let him lead you in life and he’s the one that’s going to dictate what you do.”

Perona started pitching in league ball. Then he quit league ball and played travel ball switching from pitcher to catcher. As a freshman Perona didn’t tell coaches he could pitch.

“I just wanted to play third and catch,” he said.

As a sophomore, Perona finally informed the coaches of his pitching ability. Harper inserted him into a junior varsity game first and liked what he saw. Perona was then given an opportunity of throwing one inning in a varsity game against Elkins. Harper had seen what he was looking for.

“After that Elkins game, I started closing every conference game my sophomore year,” Perona said.

He became a mainstay in the Cardinal rotation for the rest of his high school career. Perona benefited from his stint playing catcher behind the plate.

“As a catcher, you kind of look at the batter and figure out where he’s at,” Perona said. “You can call it outside or inside or the right pitch to call just by the batter, how he swings and stuff. Since I used to catch all the time, knowing all that stuff, it helped me pitching where I could locate it and be fine without having to worry about him hitting it.”

During graduation on May 15, Perona’s teammate and classmate, Will Danenhauer, who played catcher for the Cardinal baseball team, proclaimed a blessing over the Class of 2018. As one of the recipients and beneficiaries of the prayer, Perona attested to Danenhauer’s steady leadership during baseball season.

“Will is a great guy, before every game he was the one who led us in prayer before games,” Perona said. “I think he helps a lot of people with prayer and to find God. He’s a really good guy to go to for God cause he’ll lead you in the right way.”

Danenhauer role-modeled the type of guy a teammate, who was struggling could reach out to and acted as a stabilizing influence on the team.

“He’ll help you without a doubt,” Perona said.

Perona has drawn his own insights from making oneself available to teammates to provide an internal support structure. Acknowledging a teammate and addressing a need in the short-term might lead to a long-term affiliation.

“Just to help them out cause you never know what’s going to happen later on, how long you are going to be friends,” Perona said. “You could be life friends after that if you help them out so it’s worth just trying to help people out.”