While the players on the field are the ones who will win or lose the ballgame, it is the crowd in the stands that reminds the team who they are playing for.
“We don’t want to play for ourselves. We want to play for those alumni that built this thing. We want to play for our school. We want to play for our community,” said Whitley County Baseball Head Coach Jeremy Shope.
The community and the players have a symbiotic relationship – the team plays for the community, and the community supports the team.
“With the community behind us, they build our confidence,” explained Senior Dee Parker.
That confidence is evident as assistant coach Mason Croley reminisced on his time as a player on the school’s last championship team in 2023 and what the community support meant to him.
“I remember feeling like an MLB player getting to walk down Main Street during the parade and having everybody cheer you on,” Croley noted. “And then, of course, thinking about the state championship game, me and my mom always laugh. Like, even when we still watch the video of the final out, we still get goosebumps because of the fact of just how many people were there for us. I mean, if you look back in pictures and videos, there’s a lot more red than there was anything else.”
Community support is not only important to the current players but to the future of the program.
Shope recalled telling his original Whitley County team, “Boys, if we ever get this done, this community’s gonna go wild, and they’re gonna come out of the woodwork and they’re going to get behind you.”
Shope’s words rang true when that’s exactly what happened a few years later.
“In 2021 when we made it to the elite 8, the stands were full, and then 2023, wow, what a sea of Whitley County fans,” said Shope. “There’s no doubt they’re going to come support this team again and rally behind us.”
Team members have one ask of the community this Friday.
Senior Kaden Powers said, “We just hope to see a big crowd.”
