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The Fall Creek Crickets roster looks a little different this year without ace pitcher Jack Walden, but the team is confident in the experience they have for this season.
In the 2024 season, the Crickets ended with a record of 16-7. In conference play, the team went 9-2 and won the Western Cloverbelt Conference championship.
Matt Prissel is entering his second year as head coach for the Crickets. He is looking forward to another season under the sun.
Prissel is a teacher at Fall Creek and has some of his players in his classes. He said building that relationship on and off the field is one of his favorite things as a coach.
“Like every coach, you enjoy getting the excitement of the game, the juices of a close game and seeing your kids have that opportunity of being successful,” the coach said. “I think those are all things that we look forward to this season.”
Walden was the only senior on the team last season. Nathan Kurtz was a junior, and a player who took on the position of being a leader and role model alongside Walden. Kurtz is now in his senior season with the Crickets and that leadership role still belongs to him.
“We work to get better and improve every day,” Kurtz said. “Going into this season, we have an optimistic mindset.”
Prissel harped on experience being a huge part of his team this season. He said the familiarity will guide the expectations of being that high character and high work ethic type of team.
“We’re not gonna be perfect, but sometimes it’s the mindset of we have been in these big moments as a freshman or as a sophomore,” Prissel said. “Now with one more year of experience out there, hopefully we can handle those big moments a little bit better.”
Fall Creek athletics are highly valued. Coach Prissel said his team is full of encouraging players who want to see their teammates succeed in every aspect of the game.
“With so many of the guys returning, they’ll show the younger ones what the expectation is like,” he said. “One of our sophomores was working with a couple of freshmen today, and he was the one kind of encouraging them to feel more comfortable.”
Prissel said his players are a special group of guys to work with. He said his team is going to be good at putting pressure on opposing teams.
Walden secured nine of the 16 wins the Crickets recorded last season.
“Our pitching is a little bit of who’s gonna step up,” Prissel said. “We’re gonna have to step into that role of wanting the ball and having that mound presence.”
Kurtz said this team is full of potential. He said it comes down whether the Crickets can work off that potential and show up to get better every day.
Sophomore Ethan Westrate was a standout player for the Crickets last season. He led the conference with 37 hits and 31 runs batted in.
Westrate said the team is going into the season level headed and ready to play the game their way.
“We have a couple tough components in our conference but honestly it is just staying strong under pressure,” he said.
Westrate is a valuable player for Fall Creek at an early stage of his high school career. He said he is ready to see the offense and defense go to work and see the positive impact from the entire team.
“Going out there and getting better and seeing success across all levels of our program is always a plus,” he said. “Seeing every player getting some success and improving throughout the season says a lot about our program here.”
Coach Prissel has set the bar high for his team. Fall Creek is full of young talent and he is ready to coach them one day at a time starting on April 1 against Neillsville/Granton.
“We had a great season last year, but we know right now, our record is zero and zero,” the coach said. “We haven’t scored a run yet, so it’s 100% back to square one and we have to go out there and play the game of baseball like we know how.”
Continue reading...
In the 2024 season, the Crickets ended with a record of 16-7. In conference play, the team went 9-2 and won the Western Cloverbelt Conference championship.
Matt Prissel is entering his second year as head coach for the Crickets. He is looking forward to another season under the sun.
Prissel is a teacher at Fall Creek and has some of his players in his classes. He said building that relationship on and off the field is one of his favorite things as a coach.
“Like every coach, you enjoy getting the excitement of the game, the juices of a close game and seeing your kids have that opportunity of being successful,” the coach said. “I think those are all things that we look forward to this season.”
Walden was the only senior on the team last season. Nathan Kurtz was a junior, and a player who took on the position of being a leader and role model alongside Walden. Kurtz is now in his senior season with the Crickets and that leadership role still belongs to him.
“We work to get better and improve every day,” Kurtz said. “Going into this season, we have an optimistic mindset.”
Prissel harped on experience being a huge part of his team this season. He said the familiarity will guide the expectations of being that high character and high work ethic type of team.
“We’re not gonna be perfect, but sometimes it’s the mindset of we have been in these big moments as a freshman or as a sophomore,” Prissel said. “Now with one more year of experience out there, hopefully we can handle those big moments a little bit better.”
Fall Creek athletics are highly valued. Coach Prissel said his team is full of encouraging players who want to see their teammates succeed in every aspect of the game.
“With so many of the guys returning, they’ll show the younger ones what the expectation is like,” he said. “One of our sophomores was working with a couple of freshmen today, and he was the one kind of encouraging them to feel more comfortable.”
Prissel said his players are a special group of guys to work with. He said his team is going to be good at putting pressure on opposing teams.
Walden secured nine of the 16 wins the Crickets recorded last season.
“Our pitching is a little bit of who’s gonna step up,” Prissel said. “We’re gonna have to step into that role of wanting the ball and having that mound presence.”
Kurtz said this team is full of potential. He said it comes down whether the Crickets can work off that potential and show up to get better every day.
Sophomore Ethan Westrate was a standout player for the Crickets last season. He led the conference with 37 hits and 31 runs batted in.
Westrate said the team is going into the season level headed and ready to play the game their way.
“We have a couple tough components in our conference but honestly it is just staying strong under pressure,” he said.
Westrate is a valuable player for Fall Creek at an early stage of his high school career. He said he is ready to see the offense and defense go to work and see the positive impact from the entire team.
“Going out there and getting better and seeing success across all levels of our program is always a plus,” he said. “Seeing every player getting some success and improving throughout the season says a lot about our program here.”
Coach Prissel has set the bar high for his team. Fall Creek is full of young talent and he is ready to coach them one day at a time starting on April 1 against Neillsville/Granton.
“We had a great season last year, but we know right now, our record is zero and zero,” the coach said. “We haven’t scored a run yet, so it’s 100% back to square one and we have to go out there and play the game of baseball like we know how.”
Continue reading...
