Freshman Ready To Pitch
Published: Dec 12, 2007
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RUSKIN - Koby Dail can barely remember a time in his life when he did not play baseball.
"My dad got me into baseball when I was 5," Dail said. "I started off with T-ball, and I've been playing ball ever since."
Now, the 14-year-old freshman pitcher at Lennard High School is looking forward to bringing his game to the high school stage.
Dail and a small group of other junior varsity and varsity baseball players have been taking part in their teams' strength and conditioning program, which began in late November. This is the first year Lennard will field a junior varsity and a varsity team.
"We struggled last year, but I think we'll be able to learn from that this season," said Kennedy Duran, manager, whose team finished 0-22 last year while playing a varsity schedule. "We're still working on building a baseball program at this school, and this year the challenge will be to establish two teams for the first time."
Tryouts for both squads are scheduled for early and mid-January, with the season starting at the end of that month.
"I'm really looking forward to working with a pitching coach," Dail said. "I don't know how fast I can throw yet."
The Ruskin resident, who also enjoys playing football, has not let his passion for baseball affect his school work.
"I usually try to get my work done in class so I can just enjoy playing ball and not worry about homework," Dail said.
Although he's only in his first year at Lennard, he has a clear idea of what he wants to do once he's done with high school.
"I'm definitely planning on taking this to the next level," Dail said. "I want to be in the majors one day."
KOBY DAIL
AGE: 14
GRADE: Ninth
SCHOOL: Lennard High School
SPORT: Baseball
POSITION: Pitcher
FUTURE PLANS: Play in the major leagues
Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555 or jceballos@tampatrib.com
