Last Thursday, February 22, the JV Bowie boys baseball team kicked off their tournament here at Bowie. They got to play in front of packed stands filled with parents, students, and teachers.

The Dawgs ended up winning the tournament with a 7-0 win vs. McCallum, a 3-1 win vs. Westlake, and a 12-2 win vs. Austin High. This marks a successful start to the season for the Dawgs. Pitcher Louis Olmeda reflects on this rewarding win.

“It feels good to win this, especially since it’s early in the season,” Olmeda says. “We can still improve tremendously over the next couple games leading up to the start of district play.”

It wasn’t an easy road to victory in their pre-season tournament, though. The nerves of the players while playing their rivals could affect them throughout the game. Junior Taylor Archer expresses why the nerves affect them.

“I was most nervous to play Westlake because every school wants to beat them,” Archer says. “Luckily, our team was able to overcome that and was good enough to; we just needed to play our best game.”

Trying to focus on your game while there is a huge crowd of fans for both teams can be difficult to deal with. People use different and unique ways to tune out the buzz and try to play to the best of their ability.

“I try to tone out the noise and just focus on the game and my teammates.” Olmeda says. “It really is super cool having all the students watching because they usually never get to see us play otherwise.”

Sometimes just winning isn’t enough to satisfy a team. Players and coaches are always utilizing these pre-season games to see what the team needs to improve on.

“I feel like we played well enough to win the whole tournament,” sophomore Leo Peña says. “But we need to bring more energy and aggressiveness if we want to have a chance at beating Dripping Springs and Lake Travis.”

Players also have critiques of their personal performances and the outcome of their performances. Many players are very hard on themselves just because they want to strive and be better, as well as not letting the team down.

“For my next game, I need to work on not swinging up and swinging outwards when I’m batting so I don’t hit pop flys.” Archer says. “This can give my teammates already on base a chance to get to the next base or even home with more time.”

Even though players are hard on themselves during tough games and tournaments like this one, It is definitely important to be able to recognize the positive aspects and outcomes they gained from these wins.

“I feel like our team played some great baseball, and I think we could’ve won by even more.” Archer says. “But nonetheless, I am super proud of the way our team played and the success that came about it. I am also proud of us for prevailing in these much-needed early-season games.”