“Last year we had guys who had never been to a district final before,” said Springboro senior pitcher Scott White. “We’d been there but it was new for some guys. Experience can go a long way.”
White, 6-0 last season and 10-0 in his career, leads a talented pitching staff that also includes senior John Monnig (3-1, 2.49 ERA), senior Adam Feeley (1-2, 3.85) and junior Josh Lakes (4-2, 2.76). White, though, is the staff ace after leading the team in games (12), innings pitched (49), wins, strikeouts (53) and ERA (2.41). The Ohio University-bound hurler hits in the upper 80s consistently and has pounded the catcher’s mitt at 90-plus, has solid off-speed pitches and doesn’t often miss the strike zone.
“He’s able to throw all his pitches for strikes and he has above average velocity. He’s a good presence out there,” Springboro coach Mark Pelfrey said. “He throws hard, but I wouldn’t call him overpowering. He throws hard enough it makes his other pitches more effective.”
The Panthers also return their top hitter and senior shortstop Ben Schubert (.478) and their top power source in senior outfielder Taylor Terrell (.325, 5 homers, 27 RBIs).
“(Schubert) puts the ball in play consistently and hits the ball hard,” Pelfrey said. “He’s gotten a little bit stronger so hopefully he’s going to have a little more pop with that this year.”
Outfielder Kyle King (.418, 27 runs, 23 RBIs) and junior third baseman Ian Huss (.386, 26 runs, 20 RBIs) also return. White, meanwhile, hit .321 with a team-high 32 RBIs.
“The team we had two years ago was very talented. We might compare to last year in some areas, at least,” Pelfrey said. “It’s going to be a little bit of a different team. We lost an all-state catcher (James Sheltrown) which makes us different defensively. I don’t know that we’re a lot better than anybody else, but seeing we’ve won it three years in a row we probably would be the team people would want to knock off.”
The team with the best chance to do that could be Lebanon, which is armed with the area’s best pitcher in Georgia Tech signee Dusty Isaacs.
White, meanwhile, enters the 2010 season undefeated in high school action. His goal is to top Cory Hough’s school record for consecutive wins (19) to start a career.
“If I don’t reach it so be it, but if I do that means the team is winning games,” White said. “My pitching isn’t the reason I’m undefeated in high school, it’s because of the guys playing defense behind me. I have all the confidence in the world in the defense behind me.”
He also has confidence the Panthers can finally end that district title drought. Their last one came in 2002 in D-II.
“I think we kind of underachieved last year with the team we had,” White said. “This year we’re focused on our goals and I think we can get them. Our main goal is the regional finals. After that anything can happen.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2400, ext. 6991, or gbilling@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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