Coach Nickerson shares his thoughts on the season, explaining, “we have high expectations this year. We have a lot of talent, we’ve made some adjustments from last year and the team’s done a lot of work to develop chemistry. We have goals to compete in the district championship, maybe even the regional championship and do our best to get into the state tournament.”
The Falcons started the season on good footing by putting together a couple of wins against two formidable opponents: the Tuscarora Huskies and the Rock Ridge Phoenix. Both wins came with a good amount of scoring, as they won 10-8 against the Huskies and 11-7 against the Phoenix.
Commenting on their first couple of wins of the season, junior second baseman Gage Strucko says the reasons they won were because “[we] have good chemistry and [we’re] a good team. [We’ve fostered that chemistry] with team dinners and the trip to Myrtle Beach during spring break.”
Going for a third straight win, the Falcons failed to continue their streak on Tuesday, Mar. 19, in a tough 7-2 loss against the Loudoun Valley Vikings. Briar Woods hitters struggled to get on base, going five for 25 in the game and held scoreless for the first six innings. By contrast, the Vikings were able to execute on several occasions, building an early lead and adding a few insurance runs towards the latter part of the game. The Falcons attempted to rally in the seventh inning, but it was too little, too late. The combination of hitters’ woes and the Falcons’ inability to contain the Vikings’ offense made it a long night for Briar Woods’ fans.
The Falcons started a new streak with a 3-2 win against the Heritage Pride on Wednesday, Mar. 20, followed by a decisive 19-1 win against the Park View Patriots on Friday, Mar. 22. In this impressive win against the Patriots, their 19 runs was the most they had scored in a game all season, and it improved their record to 4-1.
Unfortunately, Briar Woods couldn’t make it three in a row, as they fell to the Hoover Vikings on Monday, Mar. 26, who shut them out 7-0. This was the first time the Falcons were held scoreless this season. Coming off the tough loss, Briar Woods proved resilient and came back strong the next day against the Pulaski Red Raiders, winning by a score of 8-4. Keeping the momentum, the Falcons capped off their spring break trip to Myrtle Beach with a 5-2 win against the Lower Merion Aces. The back-to-back wins against Pulaski and Lower Merion improved their record to 6-2.
Coach Nickerson comments on how the team was able to bounce back from their loss against Hoover, saying, “we had some mistakes early on that gave them an advantage and they were good enough to take advantage of that. It was a loss, but we moved on from it, and we came out tougher the next morning and were able to move on with a better approach and focus.”
Briar Woods had an unlucky go of it in their first district game against Riverside on Monday, Apr. 8, falling to the Rams 8-0. To their advantage, the Falcons were able to redeem themselves in their game against the Loudoun County Captains the next day, defeating them 8-5.
“Districts are going to be tougher this year, so we’re more focused on the little things in practice,” Strucko said.
The coach shares a similar mentality, concluding, “we have a lot of little things that [we try to focus on] because while they may seem unimportant, if you’re focused enough to do those things right, the bigger things get focused on too, and that focus carries over.”
