LC-M diamond full of new names

[KFDM COOP]

LC-M diamond full of new names

Gabriel Pruett

The Orange Leader

LITTLE CYPRESS — Fans of Little Cypress-Mauriceville baseball will have a lot of getting used to do at the first of this season.

Coach Steve Griffith could only muster up two names that were around last season, catcher Jake Rowell and pitcher Adam Leggett.

The Bears lost four first team all-district selections from last year and three second team players..

LC-M was a perfect 12-0 through the district and eventually lost to long-time rival Brenham.

Do not feel sorry for the Bears just yet.

LC-M lost 12 players after the 1997. The next year the Bears made it to the regional finals.

In 1999, Griffith once again lost 12 players and once again the next season saw the Bears right back in the regional finals.

After last season, the Bears loss 11 players to graduation.

Griffith is already doing the math in his head.

“To have that many kids graduate and to have such a tough district, it is going to be tough to overcome this,†Griffith said. “Our kids have been working hard and are going to continue to work to overcome it this year. We are looking to find kids who work hard, make good grades and act right. If they don’t fit in those categories, they will not be in the group we pick.â€

Griffith added he has had an idea of what players would be on the diamond for the Bears since last season and is really now selecting a few new players while also getting ready for next year.

“Part of what we do here is the kids we have now were in all the team meetings last year,†Griffith said. “They know the signs and the plays. We are not totally starting from scratch. We are also right now finding our top candidates for next year. We are not always just preparing for just this season.â€

LC-M will get its first work Feb. 20 against West Orange-Stark before hosting its annual tournament Feb. 22-24.

The Bears will take tough road trips to the Brenham Tournament, March 1-3, and the Jasper Tournament, Mar. 8-10.

These games, plus a road trip to Beaumont Kelly on Mar. 6, is to prepare the new Bears’ roster for another march through the district which now includes the Dayton Broncos.

“Nederland and Port Neches are always good teams,†Griffith said. “Vidor is as strong as they have ever been and Ozen could have the best pitching staff in the district. Dayton is returning about 10 or 12 seniors. The early season line-up of games and tournaments has served us well in the past.â€

So for now, the Bears’ baseball coaching staff is taking a hard look at 12 players who have a chance to “slug it out†for position spots.

The Bears are also working out 11 pitchers, five left-handers and six right-handers.

“Before the weather went south lately, we got in 600 at-bats and kept stats on the hitters and the pitchers. This helped the kids turn from sophomores to juniors and the juniors turned to seniors.

“That many swings and pitches is almost a whole season. As a motivator, I told the kids a while back we were starting the season as low as seventh in the district and each month I bumped them up. I hope we have already worked hard enough that we are now in the race.â€

[Guest Indian Chief]

Griffith will make them winners, no doubt.