Son made varsity as a sophomore at a DI Ohio high school, enrollment around 1200. A good baseball program, but not great. He spent his entire freshman season on the freshman team, pitching and playing first.
After tryouts his sophomore year, coach told him he would be splitting duty between JV and varsity, pitching on varsity and playing first on JV. He played a grand total of 2 innings on JV. Their first game of the season was against a weak sister, all of the starters were pulled for subs after the 2nd inning.
He was called up to varsity the next day, got his first varsity win pitching in relief. Coach told him to turn in his JV uniform after the game, he was staying on varsity, along with 5 other sophomores. Finished the year 3-2.
Junior year he was #2 pitcher, an important position in our league because the schools play home and home series on Tuesday and Thursday. Started the season well, until a pair of shoulder injuries ended his season. Again finished the season 3-2, both losses coming after the initial shoulder injury.
Senior year was #1 pitcher. Helped lead the team in a battle for the league championship which was not settled until the last day of the season (they ended up tied for 2nd place). His 8-0 record tied the school record for wins in a season. The group of kids that played varsity as sophomores were now the winningest team in school history.