The Brahmas’ baseball team ends their season disappointed.
Thursday marked their last game, which ended with an overall record of 9-27.
Head coach John Bushart stumbled over words to try and find the right answer and still none seem to be it.
“I am still trying to figure it out,” he said. “It was a decently talented team and that is the frustrating part.”
Pierce carried a young team, with more than half of them as freshmen and most from successful high school baseball programs used to winning more.
“I don’t think we understood what we needed to do to overcome all the challenges,” said pitcher Ryan Blakely. “Most people on the team came to Pierce used to winning.”
During the season, Bushart made changes to try and help the team bond and improve. Six a.m. practices were once their daily routine but later became unnecessary.
“The biggest challenge was coming together as a team and really bonding,” said pitcher Nick Murphy. “We just could not find ways to win.”
Aside from the losses, Brahmas had a late injury from Murphy that kept him out for the last three weeks of the conference.
Though it was just one player, Murphy was a key hitter for the team. Before his wrist injury his batting average was .500, the highest from Pierce.
“That hurt,” Bushart said. “That is one of the reasons why our offense went down.”
Murphy’s injury started out with a mild pain that quickly worsened when he tried to play on it, but it was for the love of the game.
“Eventually it hurt to much to swing. It was very frustrating because I wanted to play and help my team,” Murphy said.
Bushart is currently looking to recruit new players from different high schools, and even though there are many options he is now more than ever being careful on his choices.
“When you don’t have a successful season you pay a little more attention to the recruiting and who you bring in. Pitching is the number one thing,” he said.
According to Bushart, leadership was missing but there were a few guys that stepped up and in the end got rewarded for their effort and accomplishments.
Pierce baseball coaches held a conference meeting April 29 where they voted on first and second team all conference.
Blakely, Murphy, outfielder Kevin Torres and first baseman Nick Schmidt made second team all conference.
“It’s an honor. I worked very hard during the fall and even though I got hurt it’s nice that something came out of it,” Murphy said.
The Brahmas look forward to next year and will begin to prepare in September for a new beginning.
“The focus for the team has already changed to next year and getting back to playoff baseball where Pierce is meant to be,” Blakely said.
Regardless of the obstacles, the Brahmas’ baseball team stood strong and fought until the end.
“As a team, coaching staff included, we got to a point where we lost our fight, but these guys never quit even though it was pretty easy to,” Bushart said.