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Show Darts, 'Cats look to mound for improvement WX WILDCATS WOODS CROSS After seven years at the head coaching position, Wildcat baseball coach Steve Lindsay Lind-say has learned to see the game on its most basic level. "We don't worry about what our opponent is doing. We try not to beat ourselves," Lindsay explained. "You've got to play as best as you can. You do that with solid pitching and good defense. "We tell the kids to make the other team beat them." After all, Lindsay's philosophy has worked pretty well over the years. The Wildcats have entered state tournament play for the better part of the last seven seasons since Lindsay took over head coaching duties in 1983. "But we've never made it past the first round," Lindsay said. "That's our big nemesis." Last year, Woods Cross finished fourth in region and lost in the first round of the state tournament. At the same time, winning isn't necessarily the most memorable part of Lindsay's coaching experience. "11 I were to highlight one memorable thing about my experience as a coach here it would by the good quality of athletes that I've worked with over the years. They've been outstanding," Lindsay said. The Wildcats boast four solid guns on the mound this season in Mike Gurr, Sean Morris, Ryan Van Alfen and Andy Gunther. Gurr, Van Alfen and Judd Traeden were selected by their teammates as this year's team captains. "The key to baseball, of course, is pitching," Lindsay Lind-say said. "It's the key for any team to be effective. Our challenge, the one thing I am worried about, is avoiding sore arms and injuries because we haven't got a lot of depth. "Our biggest asset this season is the positive attitude this group of athletes has; they're really enjoyable to work with. ' ' On Tuesday, Woods Cross takes on the Murray Spartans Spar-tans on the road and return home to face the Jordan Beetdiggers on Wednesday. Game time is 3:30 p.m. DAVIS DARTS KAYSVILLE Davis baseball coach Vai Cullimore assumed the mantle as head baseball coach this season after one year as an assistant coach for the Darts. Cullimore takes over a young team featuring only five seniors and a host of talented sophomores and juniors. ju-niors. This year's mission: improve orf last spring's disappointing disap-pointing season. The Darts finished in fifth place in 1990 and are looking to improve. "We had a lot of young kids last season and very few juniors. "The program will be about the same this year," Cullimore said. "We just hope to score more runs than we did last year. "We'll start six or seven juniors this season; we have a lot of good, young kids." Cullimore describes himself as a coach who stresses fundamentals. "To get to the state tournament this year, we've got to play better offensively, have good pitching and play good defense. "I have a very basic approach to the game and stress fundamentals." Supporting CuUimore's coaching efforts this season will be Tony Caputo and Jeff Emery. "They have the perfect personalities to counteract mine. They're both very low key, and I'm crazy. They really help our program a lot." On the mound for the Darts this season will be Ryan Sprague, Jason Traveller, Matt Clegg, Jeremy Law son and Nate Richardson. Lawson and outfielderdesignated hitter Jason Bush will lead the team as captains. Cullimore said team speed will be his group's biggest big-gest asset. "If we could just steal first base," Cullimore said jokingly. "Hitting continues to be a challenge for us. "Since we lost to American Fork, we've stressed offense more in practice, and the team has hit the ball better." Davis begins Region 1 action with a bye on Tuesday and the Roy High Royals on Wednesday at home. Game time is 4 p.m. |
