The Alta Hawks baseball team has been hard at work preparing for the upcoming season.

Players have been practicing hard in the hawk house honing their skills, but they say that they can’t wait to get out on the newly renovated baseball field. Senior pitcher Jack Ward is thrilled that Alta is finally getting work done on the field ¨I am super excited about the new field and it has been super cool watching all the progress they have made on it. It is gonna be nice being able to play without worrying about injuring yourself because of such a poor playing surface.¨

Alta’s baseball field, which had remained largely untouched since the school opened in 1978, underwent a series of renovations last summer and fall which included new batting cages, larger nets to protect neighborhood houses from foul balls, and a completely redone infield which Head Coach Daron Connelly says should help tremendously in dealing with rain outs and poor weather. “The baseball season is played in the part of the year where Utah gets almost 80% of its precipitation,” says Connelly, “Since baseball is played on dirt it can become very difficult to play on a muddy surface. In the past most of our games have been delayed or canceled because of the mound and home plate area becoming muddy and slippery, and now that we have a turf mound and home plate area we should be able to prevent these delays.”

Although you might not recognize the field they’re playing on, the team on the field should be very familiar. The hawks only graduated 2 seniors last year, and will return 8 of 9 starters for the 2023 season. Senior Tyler Szugye quoted ¨Having multiple seniors on our team is huge! We all have experience in the playoffs and the regular season. We know what the playoffs are all about and we can get the underclassmen ready so we have the best chance to win.”

Tyler Szugye wants to make his senior season the best one yet, “I have been playing on the team since I was a freshman, and it’s crazy that I’m about to start my senior season. I plan to leave it all out on the field and do everything I can to help the team succeed. My main goal of the season is to make a run in the playoffs and get my first playoff win here at Alta.”