Central Hardin Baseball is on a journey to play in June.

The state tournament is a far cry for most teams, but according to head Coach Todd Thompson, it’s not a far cry for the Bruins. This team fully wants to achieve the goal of a state appearance. With a severely experienced team with seven seniors that have been around the program since 7th grade, this is a moment they have been waiting for.

“I think the sky’s the limit for the varsity,” Thompson said.

Those are strong words from the coach, but not put lightly. There is confidence around the team this year.

“Our goal every year is to make it to State,” Thompson said.

This goal from the team is a strong statement that not many teams can achieve. But this team has continuity and stability in the program.
“[We have] seven seniors and the vast majority of our lineup for the last 3-4 years have consisted of a lot of these seniors, so hopefully that experience will pay off.”

As any sports player knows, the experience is the best teacher. And with the enormous amount of experience on the squad, the boys will have to take what they have learned their whole lives and put it on the field.

But nothing comes without obstacles.

“If we do everything we are supposed to do in practice and in games, I think we can be very successful,” Thompson said. “Of course, without a single game being played yet it is hard to tell, but on paper, I like our chances.”

As seen in pro sports all the time, what ’s on paper doesn’t usually mean the automatic win. But Coach Thompson knows that. He’s been doing this for a long time, and reps in practice are very important to him.

“We learn from every rep, there is a lot of things that we do. We’d rather have quality as opposed to quantity of reps and make sure we do everything with a purpose. That is something we repeat over and over again.”

This team’s purpose is to win. Nothing else, just win. And they plan to do it with depth. That is depth in the pitching rotation. Thompson really put it best, in terms of how much talent he has at that position.
“We have about 4 or 5 guys that can pitch for us and start games, so we’ll see what happens as the season begins here.”

In terms of a go-to number one pitcher, there isn’t a plan yet for that.

“No, at this point I really don’t [have a number one pitcher].”

The team does not play a game until the 18th at Manual, so some uncertainty with the team is expected. With a confident coach and players, maybe the sky is, indeed, the limit.