A few weeks ago over 60 kids battled for spots on the three GHS baseball teams: Varsity, JV1 and JV2, and now the season is well under way.

The Varsity head coach is Brian Johnsen, Jv1 head coach is Brian DeSalvo, and the Jv2 head coach is Brad Johnson are all excited to see what their teams can do this spring.Tryouts consisted of two days of hard work where players were split up into four groups:, infield, outfield, pitchers, and catchers.While outfield players were hit pop flys, coaches recorded their response time and how good they were at catching the ball. 

The infield players were hit grounders, and players then had to throw to first. Coaches looked for how smooth they got grounders and how fast and accurate their ball was to first. 

Lastly, pitchers and catchers threw bullpens. Pitching coaches looked at the pitchers’ forms and how hard they threw while the other coaches evaluated how well the catchers were at blocking and if they could catch high speeds. Due to the year off teams and coaches have been very eager to play a new season of high school baseball.”It feels GREAT to be back playing. I am excited for our players who deserve this opportunity to compete!” Varsity Head Coach Brian Johnsen said.

Greendale Varsity Catcher senior Keegan Kapocius has high hopes for the team this year. “The goal we are looking for this year is to win the conference. It’s our goal every year, and we take pride in winning our conference,” he said. “Next step is to go to the States. As being the smallest school in the division one bracket, we have to play some powerhouses such as Oak Creek and Franklin to go to State. We’re very capable of doing so, just need a great team effort all around.” 

Greendale JV1 Middle Infielder sophomore Grayson Sinks also thinks his team will have a good season. “I believe we are going to be one amazing team. We have the potential to do very good things this year and I’m very excited,” he said. 

Multiple sports athletes had  a challenge this year because football players and soccer players were still playing their seasons when baseball started so they were unavailable for practice and some games at the beginning of the season.

“Baseball interfered with soccer because of COVID. They had to delay the soccer season due to quarantine,” Sinks said.

JV2 player Jackson Braley has also had to juggle both sports. “Baseball practices were on the same day as football so I had to choose one sport if they interfered. Most difficult was having to decide what to do and what games or practices to attend,” he said. 

As Kapocious stated earlier,  Greendale Baseball has been put into the Division 1 team bracket, so there are more tough opponents for the teams. ”Our toughest opponents this year are Pewaukee, Franklin and Oak Creek. They’re all teams we can beat, but they have some depth pitching where some kids can throw 90 mph on each team,” Kapocius said. “But the better the competition, the better we become.” Coach Brian Johnsen says,”Our toughest opponents include Pewaukee, Oak Creek, Franklin and Burlington. Pewaukee has two Division 1 pitchers and presents the strongest challenge in conference.”

JV2 also has great teams with very good pitchers and hitters.  “I think my team’s toughest opponent is Burlington. Burlington has a lot of really big kids who can pitch very well and hit amazing. We lost to them last time we played them,” freshman Jackson Braley said.

Johnsen discusses what the team does well and what they needs to work on. “Our team’s strengths are our ability to score runs, defend and our toughness. Weaknesses include being able to close out opponents earlier in the game,” he said.

Greendale athletics has spent a lot of money on the baseball teams this year. They bought balls, new chalk for the bases and new mounds for bullpens. They hope all of this will help the teams be successful and currently they are doing well. Currently, the Varsity is 4-2, the JV1 team is 4-4-1 and the JV2 team is 5-7.