Letter from a baseball parent

Good morning to all.

I would like to take a moment to brag a bit about our team …and also about our parents. My son, Dylan Senters, has been a part of the New Richmond Lions Baseball team for 4 years now. I am sad to see it come to an end. But I’ve had the privilege to be able to watch most of the games. Many times our boys work hard and walk away with the win…and of course sometimes they don’t. It is easy to be happy and positive when you’re walking away with a win, but the true test of character is how you walk away after a loss. Or how you play when the score is NOT in your favor. It shows GREAT discipline, respect, and maturity to go through the bad plays and bad games without badmouthing and disrespecting others. My compliments go out to all of your son’s and how they’ve conducted themselves throughout the years both on and off the field.

Our boys have shown true class and respect to every game official and every single team that we’ve played over the years…win or lose. And it makes me proud to be a part of it.

Also, our parents are second to NONE! We all can get aggravated when the chips are down, or calls just don’t go our way. THAT’S BASEBALL !!

The class and discipline that our boys work so hard for on the field is reflected by the class and discipline that all of our parents show at every single game. I THANK YOU all very much for not being so involved in getting the ‘win’ that you abandon the character that we must always teach our boys and our team to have. At the end of the day – or the end of the year – our boys and our parents will probably not be remembered for the wins or losses that happened throughout the season…but by the RESPECT, INTEGRITY, and CHARACTER that we show to the opposing team, to the officials, and to those around us. We have been blessed with a very talented team who is always in the running for a win regardless of who we play. And to combine such a team with a great respectful attitude is priceless.

We are….’N.R.’ !

Respectfully, Mervin Senters, Jr.
Baseball nut parent

P.S. This letter was inspired yesterday (May 6) when I sat very near an opposing team’s dugout. I was very embarrassed by the attitude and actions of some of the spectators on that side, as well as the actions by some of the opposing team’s coaches. To ‘win at all costs’ shows absolutely nothing to a team when it comes to building long term goals. And then to blame shortcomings on everyone else but yourself shows lack of accountability – and will destroy the ability to build responsibility and maturity in a student…or parent. Again, I thank you all for making my years as a New Richmond Baseball parent very pleasant.

Lions overcome adversity to win 2010 SBAAC title

Every time New Richmond baseball coach Brian Benzinger got more bad news when it came to his 2009 roster he could count on senior Josh Erdman for words of encouragement.

“He was one of the kids who, after all this adversity, that would say “Don’t worry coach, we’re going to win the league,” recalled Benzinger, who went into the 2009 season with a young team strapped for pitching and expected to finish fourth or lower in the American Division of the Southern Buckeye Academic and Athletic Conference.

 Benzinger lost four starters during the season from injuries to players quitting to suspensions for various reasons.

“I would walk away thinking, ‘If he only knew what he was talking about. He just doesn’t understand.’ ”

But Erdman, a four-year starter for the Lions, knew his teammates  who ignored the adversity and  bonded by into champions. The result was a 15-6 regular season and 11-2 SBAAC record and the seventh league title in Benzinger’s 11 years as head coach of the Lions.

“ There’s a whole bunch more to this story,” said Benzinger. “We were  glad to get in and we were lucky to coach the kids that we did this year.”

It all came down to a May 11 game against at preseason favorite Western Brown, which dismantled the Lions 20-3 earlier in the season.

“I thought Western Brown was one of the best teams I’ve ever seen in this league with the amount of offensive firepower they could throw at you,” said Benzinger.

Benzinger didn’t have to ask who wanted the ball in the championship rematch against the Broncos.
“I want Western Brown. I want Western Brown,” declared Erdman to  his coach.

“A lot of times when kids say things like that you want to tell them, ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ “ said Benzinger.”Josh got it and he made the most of it.”

Erdman pitched the Lions to a 6-4 victory that put the Lions in first place by a game. They then closed out the season with a 12-3 win at Goshen to win the league by two games.

“For us to win the league by two games, when I think about it I don’t know how they did it, “ said Benzinger.

Besides Erdman, who was 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the SBAAC, Benzinger also loses Justin Wilson (5-0 pitching and a .413 hitter) and Tyler Burns from the 2009 championship team.

Returning will be 2010 senios Dylan Senters, Andy Case, Michael Skaggs, Logan Wolfe, Kevin Hamilton and Will Shoemaker and juniors Austin Warden, Steven Binder, Zack Ritter, Tre Jetter and Justin Underwood and sophomore Danny Scholz.