Boys 2023 Spring Baseball Season Comes to a Flaming Start

Featuring interviews with 3 seniors on the team; Payton Albin, Garret Cooper, and Micah Stringfield. Goals and hopes for the season to come.

Kylie

Micah Stringfield batting in baseball

by Kylie G. Martin, Reporter

Mason Cochran, Micah Stringfield, Garret Cooper, and Mateo Castro

Monday, March 13th, the Central Kitsap High School Boys baseball team won their first game against the Bainbridge Spartans, 10-9. Starting out the season with a jamboree and only 9 practices before the first game, it was a great way to start off the season. Especially, considering the team had yet to be defeated by Central Kitsap in recent years. 

Justin Brien, the Central Kitsap High School baseball coach, has been with the team for 20 years and, as of four years ago, is the Head Coach of the team. Coaches are meant to assure the smooth functioning of a team. As for the 2023 season, Coach Brien reflects what he would like to try and do for his team this year. 

Be competitive in all games and make our District Tournament,” said Brien. 

The boys’ baseball game schedule can be found on the Central Kitsap High School website under athletics. The District Tournament is scheduled for the end of the season, and it is where whichever team has gained the most wins competes. Whichever team wins the districts will then advance to sectionals, and then to state, and so on. 

A player in particular that has shown great skill during the start of the season and in the first game, is Payton Albin, who has been playing for almost 15 years and committed to Blue Mountain Community College. Albins’ personal goal for the season is to make the first team all league. The team’s goal for this season is to win as many games as possible, to switch over last season’s odds. Albin is being recognized for pitching three and two-third innings in relief to earn the victory of their first game.

I feel like I did pretty good for the first game, however I need to work on my command a bit more. I think Nate Lander did a great job pitching, he was doing amazing holding up Bainbridge for the first couple of innings,” said Albin, senior on the team. “Micah Stringfield and Garrett Cooper did amazing in the outfield too, Micah had an amazing catch at the warning track and Garrett hit an absolute shot of a homer.”

Garret Cooper is also a senior, he has been playing for four years and committed to Washington State University. He and Micah Stringfield are in the outfield, Stringfield on left and Cooper on center. In an interview together, they said their hopes for the season were to raise their hit average. As a hope for the team overall, Stringfield said he wants this season to “just have fun, and play some good baseball.” 

Cooper is hoping for a decent season this year, something proud to end on. His hope for the overall team is “to make it farther than last year. A little bit farther.”

As Cooper was reflecting on the teams first game on 13 March, 2023 he made a side note that communication is key. That was one thing they, as a team, needed to work on for even better results. Stringfield agreed, and then added that last year was not to the teams standards and this season will be the one to shoot for the stars in; to make it to districts.