Titans baseball: The Journey
BY GARY ERICKSON
There is an old saying or maybe it is a proverb that goes something like, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
“Relating that to baseball one could say a baseball journey might begin with a single pitch, the first swing of the bat, or the first flyball caught. However the journey began, the goal was always to get to the top, which is the State Tournament.
What follows is a story about the 2020 Titans baseball team, a group of players ranging in age from 19 down to 13, all on the same journey, all working toward a common goal, the State Tournament. There are only 13 of them, not uncommon in small town North Dakota. These guys have played with or against each other for years. Three players serve as the veterans on the team, either having recently graduated from high school or finishing off their last season of eligibility.
They’ve been playing for what seems like forever and are once again providing the leadership that is so important to any team. The younger three include a rookie and two second year players that, according to their ages, are supposed to be playing Babe Ruth ball. But there aren’t enough players for that team so they moved up, practicing, playing, and getting better. Then there is the group in the middle, the guys who have been playing on teams where they were both veterans and near rookies in the same season. They are part of the team’s core, the group of players with a couple guys a little older, a couple guys a little younger, and the guys in between. They grew up together playing baseball.
