A season ago, the North Putnam baseball team enjoyed some magic.
Chris Geeser's squad captured the Putnam County tournament and competed against a tough schedule. This season, the Cougars have goals of winning county again and making a deep run this spring in the postseason.
"Looking back at last season, there were definitely some good things that happened during the season. We won the Putnam County Tournament early in the year, which is always a season goal for our program. I thought we competed really well all season long, which when you consider how busy of a schedule we play with the strength of schedule, is something that can be difficult to do. I thought we also had some really good growth and development from the players in the program over the course of the season," Geeser told The Putnam County Post.
Geeser said his team's off-season has gone well despite missing a few workouts due to winter weather impacting the school days.
"We still got a lot of work done. We had a pretty good attendance for the off-season workouts, which can be tough when we are going at 6;6:30 a.m. due to facility availability. I think I can speak for everyone in the program, we are excited to get out of the gym and outside on the field to continue our work. Some of our goals will be to defend our Putnam County championship, improve our conference standing from last year and win that sectional title," Geeser said.
The Cougars have a host of players returning who saw varsity action last year including seniors Jaylen Windmiller and Brogan Woodall. Windmiller pitches and plays first, while Woodall is an infielder, outfielder and pitcher.
Juniors Kaden Helderman (outfielder/pitcher) and Braxton Woodall (infielder/designated hitter) return, as do sophomores Alec McKenzie (infielder/pitcher), Griffen Starr (infielder/pitcher), Jayce Monnett (infielder) and Chase Barber (outfielder/pitcher).
Geeser singled out several freshman who will push for playing time. Those players include: Brayden Chew (catcher/infielder), Owen Thurman (outfielder/pitcher), Camden Greene (infielder/pitcher) and Corbin Conner (infielder/pitcher).
The skipper said his team enters looking to win another Putnam County Tournament, noting it is "always an early season test." In addition, North Putnam aims to make a run at a sectional crown.
"With the tournament being early in the season, it's always a test to find your best lineup in the first couple of weeks of the season. I feel like the county games always bring some extra intensity and competitiveness as the kids know each other pretty well. I believe that us returning a lot of players from last year's County championship team will help us defend our title this year. As far as sectional, I think it is wide open this year. I think there are several teams that are very similar to each other in the sectional. I think the sectional champion this year will be the team that is playing their best baseball at that time of the year and who can stay the healthiest. Avoiding the injuries and fatigued arms is walys key that time of year," Geeser said.
