Ringgold players talk shop with Pirates

By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com
The Ringgold baseball and softball teams won’t start their respective seasons until late March, but they received some additional tips on hitting, pitching and mental preparation on Wednesday.
The Pittsburgh Pirates Charities Winter Care-A-Van began its travels for the preseason with a trip to Ringgold High School with slugger Josh Bell and pitchers Clay Holmes and Sam Howard. Also visiting with players were first base coach Tarrik Brock and bullpen coach Justin Meccage.
Pirates players and coaches participated in a meet and greet, a Q & A session and skill stations, giving tips and feedback to the high school athletes.
“It was really cool interacting with the Pirates players,” Ringgold baseball coach Don Roberts said. “They were class acts. They were humble and really easy to talk to.”
High school players asked questions ranging from game preparation, mental approaches in the batter’s box and on the pitching mound and pre-game and practice routines.
One baseball player asked about what goes through a pitcher’s mind while staring down a batter in the box.
“There’s a mindset that comes with being on the mound, or being in the box,” Holmes said. “A lot of times it’s a matter of trying to figure out what makes me better against the next batter and even the next pitch.
“Everything really starts with your game-day preparation.”
Senior softball player Nya Adams asked about a player’s focus while hitting off a tee.
“Well, I don’t really hit off the tee much anymore,” Bell said, getting laughs from the group. He hit .277 and had 37 home runs with 116 RBIs last season. “It is important because sometimes you have to work on the mechanics.”
“(Coach) Brock offered up the suggestion to work on your contact points, where the bat is meeting the ball,” Adams said.

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