On May 18., the Jefferson Varsity Baseball team faced off against Edison High School at the Capitol Conference Quarterfinals, at the Edison venue. The game proved quickly to be one of the worst matches this season with a devastating ending score of 18:1.

“The Edison was a tough game for all the players, especially the seniors,” junior Patrick Beck said. “We knew the skill level of the Edison team from a previous meeting, and decided that if we played our best game, we could come away with a win.  Unfortunately, nothing really went our way in the game, dashing our dreams of a region tournament berth.”

In a past game, Jefferson had faced defeat by Edison at a much smaller margin, losing with a final score of 3:5.

“It was a tough loss, losing 18-1 to a team we knew we could beat,” Beck said. “Bounces just didn’t go our way.  Edison got some pretty cheap hits in the beginning of the game, getting up 4-0 early in the game, and it just went downhill from there.  A big factor in the game was the sun, several Edison runners getting on base due to TJ players becoming blinded.”

Many of the Jefferson pitchers were also faced by the problem of the bright sunlight, which shone directly in their eyes due to the placement of the field, and made it difficult to throw consistent strikes.

“This tough game really taught us that we need to play our best game every time, no matter what team we are playing,” Beck said. “We tend to play our best games against opponents who are very good, adjusting our skill level to play up to their ability.  However, when we play teams that we know we are better than, we tend to play down to their ability, more often than not losing those games.”

While this year’s chance for the Capitol Conference tournament was lost, with hard work and dedication, Beck is confident that next year’s season could have a much greater and result than this one.

“We are losing 9 seniors this year, which is a huge blow to our team,” Beck said.  However, we are confident with the skill of our coaching staff, potential players on or JV team, and returning Varsity players that we can have a successful season next year.”