‘Canes Play Summer Ball

Head varsity baseball coach Chris Jenkins has found a way to keep his team on the baseball diamond longer, and a system by which he can experiment with situations and positions. It’s called summer ball, which incorporates the varsity, junior varsity, and rising ninth graders from the middle school team.

Summer ball, in its first year, is a relaxed coalition between Monticello High School and several others. It includes Jackson, Social Circle, North Side Columbus, GMC, and Ola, a new high school in Henry County.

Schedules are set, but not in ink due to the situations summer vacations can provide. Play began soon after school ended.

According to Coach Jenkins, summer ball includes a 20 game schedule. “What we like to do is schedule double headers and let the younger kids, upcoming ninth graders and junior varsity kids, play the first game, and then let the older kids play the second game.

“It gives us an opportunity to look at younger kids and also to keep all of them playing as long as possible. You don’t want them to have a 10 month break from baseball. With summer ball it cuts the break down to seven or eight months. Also, you can work on some things you wouldn’t want to try during the regular season.”

Although a schedule is not published, it is confirmed that the ‘Canes will play a double header in Jackson today at 4:30 p.m., and the summer ball season will probably conclude toward the end of next week.

This extra effort and preparation by the coach and the team should insure that the ‘Canes field a more experienced team next spring when they begin competition in class single A.