On April 18, Park baseball played their first home game of the season, which ended with Park coming back and winning the game 5-4 over Waconia. With this win, Park is now sitting on a record of 1-2 in the season. Senior Danny Montanez said Park started slow but finished strong.
“I did all right ‒ I didn’t hit the best but played defensively well. A change we could make is starting off hot and not waiting until the middle or the end of the game,” Montanez said. “After a win like that, we just celebrated with our team and then got back to work.”
Senior Miles Marggraf said this win was a great morale boost, and gives the team good spirits for the next game.
“This is a key win for us, and I know that this is only the start of our success,” Marggraf said. “Our momentum should carry over for our next game and we should start hot.”
Head coach Brian Kelly said the team showed hard work and determination by not giving up and winning this game.
“We got down for nothing at the top of the first inning and ended up winning 5-4. Anyone that coaches team sports knows that is a reflection of not giving up in hard work,” Kelly said. “Super proud of our team for not giving up and sticking in this game until the end.”
Marggraf said their good defense was the reason they came back and won the game.
“Our team batted well but our defense was definitely the reason we won today,” Marggraf said. “We played well enough defensively that we were able to come back and win this game.”
Montanez said tonight’s fight for the win is a great way to set the tone for the rest of the season and gives the team an image of how well they can play.
“The way we came back today was a great example of how not giving up and playing till the very end will win us games,” said Montanez. “This was a great game and we should carry this game with us for the rest of the season.”
Kelly said that the small errors aren’t bad, they’re just something the team knows they need to fix before the next game.
“We treat all these early season games the same and just really try to just do our best, but not to get too carried away with the little mistakes,” Kelly said. “I get excited when little mistakes happen because we know it’s something to work on the next day.”
Park baseball’s next game is against Edina at 6:00 p.m. April 22 at Dakota Park.
