Although the season ended on a sour note with a 11-1 defeat at Gilmour in the sectional finals, the Beachwood baseball team has improved tremendously this year.

One of the things that drove these improvements was a tough national schedule in Florida.

“Playing teams that were already seasoned and a couple of divisions up from us helped to prepare us mentally while also [giving] us an opportunity to realize that nothing in this game is given to you,” head coach Todd Butler wrote in an email in April.

These tough tests, which included games against Kentucky state champs Dunbar, helped propel the Bison to a 18-11 record overall, and a CVC Metro title, the first since 2012.

The CVC title has been attributed to the overall team energy, as well as the strong team and individual performances.

“Anybody can play [well], it’s [team energy] that gets you through the game… Everybody contributed to the wins [we had],” said freshman Ben Connor, who was second on the team with a .325 batting average.

The schedule also got the team’s confidence up heading into the season.

“We played the team that won the Kentucky Division I state championship, Dunbar, and we only lost 4-3 due to [some errors], so it really showed us how well we can play,” said sophomore Aden Stern, who was second on the team in RBIs with 15.

The 9-8 comeback win vs Cuyahoga Heights on April 14 exemplified some of the improvements seen by the team over the course of the year.

Going into the bottom half of the last inning, the Bison were down 7-3, and a comeback seemed improbable, but they ended up winning the game in extra innings.

“It showed that we don’t fold when we’re down by a lot… Everyone really supported each other that game, and it showed that we could come back,” Stern said.

In the season ending loss at Gilmour, there was some controversy, as Beachwood players felt that some of the calls were biased towards the home team.

“I think that since it was a playoff game, tensions were a little bit higher between the teams and the umpires,” Connor said.

That wasn’t totally to blame for the loss, however.

“Some calls were bad and some calls didn’t go our way, but umpires never lose games for teams,” Connor added. “It’s always teams losing games for themselves, and Gilmour did still beat us even without those empires.”

“We can’t let the umpires decide the game, and we can’t put ourselves in a situation where the umpires have to make difficult calls that could impact the outcome,” Stern also said.

Despite the somber end to the season, the future still looks bright. With the loss of only two varsity starters due to graduation, Beachwood has the potential to make noise next year.

“I definitely think we have a great chance to repeat as CVC Champs because we have so many returning starters and players with experience at the varsity level,” Stern said.