High School Baseball Web is a great place

So last week was finals week at my school, but being that I was a second semester senior and had worked pretty hard in my previous seven semesters in the classroom, and thus my schedule for my eighth semester was extremely light. While my friends were busy locked in their rooms or in the library studying, I was awfully bored at home.

During this time I spent quite a few hours on occasion surfing the Internet. Being that the HSBBWeb is one of the tabs on my favorites, much of that time was spent on this site.

Since I signed up to join in May of 2005, a whole lot has changed in my life. I was glimpsing through past threads, almost as a chronicled timeline of the maturation and progression of yours truly throughout my baseball career. I reminisced on all of the friendships I've made through this site, and all of the great opportunities and knowledge that have stemmed from this networking.

Just as I was doing this, I stumbled upon a post in the After High School forum written by hokieone about looking for an additional player for his Valley League team. Just last year I had been offered a roster spot with the expansion Strasburg Express, yet again a connection made through this site and hokieone. Unfortunately I hurt my elbow before the summer season began and was never able to take the mound for the Express.

I got in touch with hokieone and told him that there's a reliever at my school that I believe could compete in the Valley League, and that if he would be interested in the kid I could speak to him. We started talking about things in our lives, and he asked me about my Tommy John recovery. I told him that it's going well and if things continue to progress the way they are I could be ready to pitch in a game in a month or so, which would place me in the first or second week of June.

He then posed a question that threw me for a little bit of a loop because it was very much unexpected. The conversation, abridged, went like this:

hokieone: "What about you pitching here this summer?"

Me: "Oh, well I don't know if I'd be ready to do that. Plus, I'm taking classes at Georgetown." (note: Strasburg is about 70 miles west of Georgetown)

hokieone: "Well what if we'd be willing to work around your school schedule so that you'd come out here when you can?"

Me: "Maybe. I don't know if I'm going to have a car or if the Georgetown coaches want me on campus working out and rehabbing though."


We pretty much left it at that, and I told him I'd let him know. Last night I FINALLY found a parking spot in the DC area...thanks to a friend of my girlfriend's from college who has a guest pass in her condo complex in Arlington, Va. I spoke to the Georgetown pitching coach, Coach Brown, this morning who told me he'd be all for me pitching in the Valley League if I wanted to and if I was ready.

Then, I put some thought into it. Did I really want to pitch there? Would it be more beneficial for me to stay on campus and continue rehabbing and working out to prepare for the fall? Could it potentially hurt my arm once again, being that I'll be jumping into a very competitive summer league and haven't really prepared appropriately?

My decision, however, came pretty quickly. It was made for two reasons:

1. I am probably going to benefit from seeing live hitters in a game situation before the fall. I haven't pitched in a game in over a year and would prefer to not have the first batter I face be in the fall at my new school.

2. Realistically, this year may very well be the final year of me playing at this high a level of play in baseball. Why give up the opportunity to continue to compete as much as I can?

So I picked the phone back up and I called hokieone, and everything is pretty much set.

This summer I will be a member of the Strasburg Express of the Valley League.

Just another example of how the HSBBWeb is so amazing.