ShawneeDispatch.com

Last year's Mill Valley baseball team finished 19-2, won the Kaw Valley league championship, and was arguably the best team ever fielded in the school's young history.

Unfortunately, the accomplishments of last year's team will have little to no bearing on the outcome of this year's club.

Mill Valley relief pitcher Matt Wilson took the mound for the Jags during their season-opening game, a 10-0 loss to Bishop Ward on Monday.

After graduating five senior starters, the Jaguars are an extremely young team with a lot of question marks heading into the new season.

But this won't be a rebuilding year.

"One of our goals this year is to win the league again," said Jaguar coach, Carl Garrett. "And although we are very young, I think we will surprise some people, and like every year, expectations will be high."

Leading Mill Valley on the field this season will be senior Tommy Fitzgerald, an all-league shortstop who also pitched for the Jaguars last year and posted a flawless 5-0 record with an equally impressive 2.0 earned run average.

"Tommy batted in the two-hole last year and we are looking to him for leadership and some quality innings on the mound, because he is definitely a good one for us," Garret said of the four-year letter-winner.

Also returning from last year's varsity team is junior Ryan Gracy, the Jaguars catcher of a year ago who will be called upon for pitching and outfield duties this season.

"We are going to continue to play Ryan at catcher, but will also look for him to pitch more innings," Garrett said. "And we plan to free him up in the outfield because he is athletic enough to play multiple positions."

Other juniors who will be asked to fill the big shoes of departing seniors will be Brent Ogden (2B), Matt Wilson (LHP/OF), Scott Walter (1B/DH) and transfer Matt Westin.

Westin, a gifted athlete who moved to Shawnee from Minnesota this summer, will play a crucial role in the Jaguars infield and could very well split his duties between three positions (C/2B/3B) during the season, depending on the lineup.

"Matt has been a nice addition to our team," Garrett said, "and we look for him to step right in and do some good things for us."

The Jaguars also will start four sophomores to begin the season, including gifted outfielder/pitcher, Connor Koch.

Last year, as a freshman, Koch led the Jaguars in hitting and was a dazzling defender in right-field, but this season he will make the move to center-field because of his speed and ability to cover a lot of ground.

"Connor is a guy who we look forward to holding down center-field for us this season," Garrett said. "He will also be pitching some innings for us, and should have another great year at the plate for us this year."

While the Jaguars hope to defend their league title despite their apparent youth, they will have some immense competition fighting for the same goal.

Bishop Ward, new to the league this year, is a baseball powerhouse that has won six state championships in the last 10 years.

Fortunately for the Jaguars, they got the opportunity to measure themselves against Ward early on in a game that Garrett said would be huge in showing his team if it could compete against what is traditionally one of the state's best teams.

"We face Bishop Ward right off the bat, and they will be a big test for us," Garrett said before the game. "We will find out very early in the season whether we are pretenders or contenders."

The Jaguars also will battle Sante Fe Trail this season. The Chargers have two starting pitchers that throw in the high 80s. Lansing is also a veteran club with several strong bats in its lineup.

Mill Valley's home opener against Turner is scheduled for Thursday, March 31.