By Ken Hansard
Danick Bleich, a junior catcher and outfielder last season for Circle High School, and his Thunderbird teammates finished Bleich’s junior campaign 17-12, culminating in a tough loss at the first round of the 4A State Championships to the eventual state runner-up, the Pratt Greenbacks.
While Bleich and his teammates would love to return to state and possibly even surpass last season’s success, he knows that, as both a senior and the T-Birds quarterback on the field, he is going to have to lead a young team that graduated a lot of talent. “I will definitely have to take on the role of leader since we have a lot of freshmen coming in. We lost a lot of pitching, so we will need some players to step up on the mound, and we will definitely be putting in a lot of work in the cages, as well.”
Bleich, who earned AVCTL – Division III Second-Team All-League honors as an outfielder last year, is no stranger to hard work, and he plans to lead his younger charges by example. “I have been working during the off season inside the cages trying to be more consistent, and I have been lifting to be more explosive. I am looking forward to seeing how our younger players develop and how we match up and compete with other good teams. But overall, my goals for the year are to hit over .400, to get back to state and hopefully make a run there, and to have a lot of fun.”
