Guthrie Baseball looks like a fun season upcoming
I took in the first game of the high school season and watched the Guthrie/Piedmont game at Squires Field. I needed a jacket and gloves to take it in, but it was great to get back to the yard.
The Jays looked good in their 15-2 win and can be a team that can make some noise come early May. As for most teams, pitching is what separates most teams and where coaches look to build on first.
Corbin Crockett will be the first option for head coach Jon Chappell on the bump. The senior can bring it and does a good job of keeping batters off-balance.
Zac Bobo, Michael Womack, Hayden Seifert, Bryan Dutton, and John Cotton gives pitching coach Tom Haynes a few good options.
Defensively, the Jays can have multiple looks depending who is pitching, but regardless who is pitching, the defense should proved to be a strong unit.
Seifert, or Landry Chappell at first. The middle infield could see Dutton, Crockett, Cotton, Jaden Chappell, and Scott Pickle. The hot spot can have Jaden Chappell, or Womack. Catching duties belong to Cotton and Chappell.
Outfield has range and speed with Luke Davis, Dustin Bowman, Bobo, Womack, and John Clark.
This years Guthrie team will have options and in each of those options seemed to be solid at their position and when you look at the offense the Jays still have plenty of options.
Crockett, Dutton, and Davis give you speed and a habit of getting on base. If you allow these Jays on the bases and having a head coach like Jon Chappell teams better be solid defensively and fundamentally sound, or it could be a long evening for some teams.
The line up will have some pop, however, as well. Cotton had 14 home runs a season ago and the Chappell cousins, Jaden and Landry, along with Seifert should help relieve some of the pressure off of Cotton.
Womack, Bowman, and Bobo will fill out their bottom of the line-up. Bowman is now batting from the right side and collected two hits in his first game. Bobo was a solid 3-3 with three RBIs.
Guthrie finished the school season with a 19-17 record, but played in the championship game this past summer in the Red Dirt summer league with the same exact team they will play with this season.
The Jays, although better, will still have to put a good win-loss season together because of the teams they will see on their schedule and will be fighting for a home regional with.
It’s the normal characters of Deer Creek, Carl Albert, and Chickasha, who are all in their conference and staples in the state tournament. The Jays have been stuck in the Carl Albert regional over the past few seasons, and need not to return.
Guthrie can be good enough team to host a regional if they play to the level that their coach believe’s they can and make the state tournament, but in 5A baseball nothing is given to you.
Chris Evans Blog 