Who needs credit?
Sure, the Kentwood High baseball team is playing better these days than at any point a year ago. The Conquerors are getting a little bit from everybody, whether it’s another strong pitching performance from ace Alexander Lee, multi-hit games from Bryant VanEngelenburg or Robbie Morris or top-notch defense throughout.
Yet, listen to the chatter throughout the league and it’s typically reserved for perennial power Tahoma or last year’s state darling Kentlake.
The Conquerors?
They’ve somehow managed to quietly fly under the radar this season despite entering the week tied for first place in the South Puget Sound League North Division with an impressive 11-1 mark.
“We like it that way. We don’t want to be known,” said Kentwood coach Jon Aarstad. “It’s fine with us. We don’t feel like we need to be upset over that. We feel like that we have a lot to prove.”
The thing is, the Conquerors have been proving it virtually every day this season. But you wouldn’t know it from the look at the state rankings, where Kentwood remains an outsider looking in according to washingtonbaseballpoll.com. While North Division rival Tahoma sits at No. 9, the Conquerors aren’t even listed. And yet, Kentwood is the lone team to have beaten the Bears this season, handing Tahoma a 5-2 loss on April 3.
Frustrated?
Fired up?
This year’s edition of the Conquerors are as calm and cool as they come.
“It’s always fun to be the underdog,” said Lee, a righthander who is among the North Division’s top pitchers. “Taking stuff from the top people.”
Of course, the Conquerors have been doing good all season long.
But no team in the North has been better since April 8, when the Conquerors were inexplicably no-hit by Thomas Jefferson junior Jeff Brigham.
“He had a good game and kept us off balance,” Aarstad said.
The most telling aspect of Kentwood’s season, however, is how the Conquerors responded to that loss.
Pack it in? Not this bunch.
Since the no-hitter, Kentwood has won six-straight SPSL North games and entered the week in a tie with Tahoma for the North’s top spot. Tahoma will play host to Kentwood at 4 p.m. on Wednesday in a game that could essentially decide the league champion.
It’s not a game the Conquerors are sweating.
“It’s semi-important. The big thing is state,” said VanEngelenburg, a shortstop who collected eight hits in a three-game span last week. “We’ve already clinched a playoff berth.”
Indeed. Matter of fact, the Conquerors clinched that berth early last week with consecutive wins over Auburn and Auburn Riverside.
Though, it’s not just that Kentwood is winning, but how its going about doing it. During its recent six-game league winning streak, Kentwood hasn’t just beaten opponents, it has beaten them up, scoring 71 runs during that span. In five of those wins, the Conquerors scored 10 or more runs. In the other, the Conquerors upended Kentridge 9-8.
Aarstad credits Morris, Lee, VanEngelenburg and A.J. Easterbrook for leading the way, but stressed that essentially, everyone on the roster has done his part.
“We’re executing, that’s the big thing we’re doing. We’re bunting, getting sacrifice flies,” the coach said. Those four have the big hits and RBIs, the big flash stuff. But everybody is getting it done, it’s a 1-through-9 thing.”
Kentwood will need a little something from everybody against Tahoma on Wednesday to move into the driver’s seat for the SPSL North crown. Kentwood hasn’t won the North since 2000, the same year it won the state title. Kentwood has advanced to state four times (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) since winning it all, but hit a considerable bump in the road last season, posting a 7-7 league record and missing out on the postseason.
The .500 record was a punch to the gut for a program that prides itself on tradition.
“I think it was a fluke year,” Alexander said. “There was too much off-the field drama.”
Rest assured, that drama is a thing of the past.
As for credit, that looks to be something of the very near future for the Conquerors.
“When we do good, we’ll get credit,” Alexander added.
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