2010 State Championship

2010 GISA Class AA Baseball State Champions
Lynn Huffstickler
Head Coach

What a season! After making it to the State Championship game for two years and coming up short, we were hoping the third time would be the charm. It was!
This season was a total team effort from start to finish. Our parents and supporters helped throughout the season as gatekeepers, concession workers, photographers, and field decorators. Susan Ebersbach, Karen Jackson, Lori Alvarez, Darrell Bonner, B. J. Kimsey, and many others were instrumental in organizing our fan base to keep operations functioning smoothly. A big thank you goes to Mr. Guy Arnall who provided financial support to decorate the stands and surrounding area for the state playoffs. The season was well documented in pictures by Susan Ebersbach, Paula Vandersluis, and others. Our parents, both Middle School and Varsity, remained faithful throughout the year, providing taxi service for non-driving players, working concessions, attending games, and cheering on the players. The encouragement of our Hawks Nation, both on the field and off, spurred us to victory! Congratulations go to each member of the 2010 Hawks baseball team. Our seniors, Garrett Okun, Grant Alvarez, Jack Duffey, Evan Graybill, Seth Bonner, and Cody Yarbrough, provided the leadership to this championship team. Our underclassmen, Kyle Kimsey, Ben Dudley, Ryan Lynch, Reed Jackson, Joe Bonner, Richard Ebersbach, Candler Rich, J. J. Avery, Elliott Smith, Patrick McKee, and Dalton Trammell, worked as a team as they followed the leadership of the seniors. These 17 players were faithful and committed to their two season goals: to win the region championship and to win the state championship. They accomplished both.
Sports writers claim that defense wins championships, and that is certainly true with our team this year. Jack Duffey, Evan Graybill, and Kyle Kimsey’s pitching led our defense with the one, two, three punch which was feared by every opponent. Ben Dudley and Duffey commanded the action at first base. Joe Bonner, Reed Jackson, and Cody Yarbrough shared duty at second base. Kimsey was our Golden Glove at shortstop. Evan Graybill and Joe Bonner anchored third base. Our outfield, Seth Bonner, Candler Rich, and Garrett Okun, provided speed, agility, and accuracy. The best catcher in the GISA, Grant Alvarez, quarterbacked behind the plate. This defense kept us winning from the season opener to the state championship.
You cannot win games without scoring. This year’s team scored 332 runs in 30 games! We averaged 10.4 runs per game. We had 21 games with double digit scores. Garrett Okun and Kyle Kimsey, our lead-off and number two hitter, set the stage for our trio of power hitters, Grant Alvarez, Jack Duffey, and Evan Graybill. Candler Rich’s ability to hit the baseball usually resulted in driving in the power group. Seth Bonner, Joe Bonner, and Cody Yarbrough closed out the line-up by getting on base, advancing runners, and driving in runs. Their efforts created a line-up feared by pitchers throughout the state.
Our coaching staff deserves thanks for their time and commitment to the Hawks baseball program. Our coaches serve as grounds crew, teachers, trainers, and motivators.
Bobby Totten and Carl Brown worked throughout the season with the Varsity team while Jeff Avery assisted with the JV and Reese Barnett with the Middle School team. All four of these coaches worked with the Varsity team during the playoffs. Their support was instrumental in helping the team achieve its goals.
When I came to Heritage in the fall of 2001, the baseball program, despite enthusiastic support, had had limited success. They had never celebrated a winning season. During the past eight years, we had seven winning seasons. We won our region championship in 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010. We have had state playoff appearances six times. We were second in the state in 2008 and 2009, and we all know what happened on May 29, 2010, at 5:08 p.m.!
As Stuart Crosby said, “The recipe for a championship team includes good pitching, defense, timely hitting, intelligent base-running, and fan support.”
We had all of these. The dedication of our players and their parents mixed with the commitment of our coaches and the noise of our fans produced this prize-winning season! “Third time is the charm!”

2010 AA State Champions

2010 AA State Champions
What a year.

2010 Trophy Presentation

2010 Trophy Presentation
Total team effort!

2010 State Champioship

2010 State Champioship
Let the fun begin.

2010 State Championship

2010 State Championship
Hawks of yesterday!

2010 Heritage Hawks in Black

2010 Heritage Hawks in Black

2010 Heritage Hawks

2010 Heritage Hawks

Opening Weekend 2010

Sunday, January 31, 2010

January 31, 2010 Newsletter

HERITAGE HAWKS BASEBALL NEWS 1/31/10

TIME CHANGE
NOTICE!!!!! VARSITY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL BASEBALL MEETING FOR PARENTS ON FEBRUARY 1 AT 6PM IN SLC.

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRACTICE

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS – REPORT FEB 1
POSITION PLAYERS – REPORT FEB 8

PLEASE NOTICE OUR NEW BLOG. HERITAGEHAWKS.ORG, ATHLETICS, BASEBALL, COACH HUFF’S BLOG. IF YOU HAVE PICTURES, PLEASE EMAIL THE PHOTOS AND I WILL CREATE ANOTHER SLIDE SHOW.


I NEED EVERY PLAYER’S CELL NUMBER AND PARENT’S CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS. I WILL TEXT AND USE OUR BLOG AND EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE.

PLAYERS, IF YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN PLAYING, PLEASE LET THEM KNOW OF PRACTICE.

BASKETBALL PLAYERS THROW WITH COACH BROWN AT 2:30 DURING WEIGHT TRAINING ON FOOTBALL FIELD.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Newsletter January 24, 2010

HERITAGE HAWKS BASEBALL NEWS 1/24/10

NOTICE!!!!! VARSITY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL BASEBALL MEETING FOR PARENTS ON FEBRUARY 1 AT 7PM IN SLC.

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRACTICE

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS – REPORT FEB 1
POSITION PLAYERS – REPORT FEB 8

PLEASE NOTICE OUR NEW BLOG. HERITAGEHAWKS.ORG, ATHLETICS, BASEBALL, COACH HUFF’S BLOG. IF YOU HAVE PICTURES, PLEASE EMAIL THE PHOTOS AND I WILL CREATE ANOTHER SLIDE SHOW.


I NEED EVERY PLAYER’S CELL NUMBER AND PARENT’S CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS. I WILL TEXT AND USE OUR BLOG AND EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE.

PLAYERS, IF YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN PLAYING, PLEASE LET THEM KNOW OF PRACTICE.



ITEMS OF INTEREST

If you find that you are not receiving the emails please call at 770 317 9527.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

January 17, 2010 Newsletter

HERITAGE HAWKS BASEBALL NEWS 1/17/10

PLEASE NOTICE OUR NEW BLOG. HERITAGEHAWKS.ORG, ATHLETICS, BASEBALL, COACH HUFF’S BLOG. IF YOU HAVE PICTURES, PLEASE EMAIL THE PHOTOS AND I WILL CREATE ANOTHER SLIDE SHOW.

BASEBALL PRACTICE BEGINS TUESDAY 3:45. WE WILL BE CONDITIONING AND LONG TOSS. OVER AT 5:30. BASKETBALL PLAYERS ARE EXEMPT.

I NEED EVERY PLAYERS CELL NUMBER AND PARENTS CURRENT EMAIL ADDRESS. I WILL TEXT AND USE OUR BLOG AND EMAIL TO COMMUNICATE.

PLAYERS, IF YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN PLAYING, PLEASE LET THEM KNOW OF PRACTICE.

CONGRATULATIONS TO GRANT AND JACK. They sign with Gulf Coast College this week. Photos to follow. Check BLOG for details.

Baseball Conditioning Starts Tuesday

Baseball conditioning, crossover symmetry, and long toss begins Tuesday at 3:45 after school. Pants or sweats are acceptable this week.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Alvarez and Duffey Sign With Gulf Coast

Congratulations to Grant Alvarez and Jack Duffey. Both will sign early with Gulf Coast College in Panama City, Florida. Both players were named to the 2009 All State AA Team last year in the GISA. Signing pictures will happen next week at school.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Jack Duffey To Be Honored

Jack Duffey will be honored as the 2009 GISA AA Player of the Year at the 2010 Georgia Dugout Club Annual Conference in Atlanta on January 30. Congratulations Jack!

Hawks Implement Crossover Symmetry System

What is Crossover Symmetry? Crossover Symmetry is a revolutionary rotator cuff and scapular strengthening system that incorporates the latest research pertaining to functional strengthening, rehabilitation and upper body plyometrics. It utilizes a double cord setup which creates a symmetric crossover movement that improves angle of resistance to more effectively strengthen the rotator cuff and scapular stabilizers.

Hawks Baseball 11010

HERITAGE HAWKS BASEBALL NEWS 1/10/10

Parents:

During the fall, Ms. Alvarez, Ms. Kimsey, Coach Rineer, and I met to discuss the school’s Dugout Club organization. Many great ideas came out of the meeting. We will have an organizational meeting the first week of February.

The Dugout Club needs the following:

Officers
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer – Donna Stuart – School
Middle School Representative
Varsity Representative
Head Coach
If you are interested in serving as one of the officers in the Dugout Club, please notify Ms. Alvarez or Ms. Kimsey.

Fund Raising Ideas

Project Ideas

We are looking at an admission charge this year. We have talked about different ways to handle this and we need ideas. Our parents have to pay when we travel; therefore we need to take advantage of this opportunity to charge our visitors. Fair is fair.

Please feel free to call Ms. Alvarez, Ms. Kimsey or me anytime. We will begin the newsletters next week.


VARSITY PRACTICE BEGINS JANUARY 19TH. CONDITIONING AND LONG TOSS
( BASKETBALL PLAYERS EXEMPT )

MIDDLE SCHOOL PRACTICE BEGINS FEBRUARY 8TH.

PLEASE NOTICE EMAIL ABOUT FIRST PITCH IN MACON THAT I AM FORWARDING
Welcome to Hawks Baseball!