How Dimond baseball prepares for opening day on the diamond

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - While today was Opening Day for Major League Baseball, Alaska High School baseball is still awaiting the snow to melt before the first pitch can be thrown. But if you want to be on top of your fastball, you have to put in the work well before the grass is cut, the field is raked and the chalk has been placed.

“It takes a lot of time and dedication,” Dimond High School senior Alex Bruce said. “I know a lot of the guys in here, they are working six hours a day inside The Dome or whatever facilities they can get into, because there is not many places in Alaska, but when you can find time it’s pretty sweet. We have had to go in all sorts of places, we have looked in high school gyms, middle school gyms, football fields, anywhere we can go.”

Before they take the diamond, Dimond has to get tuned up for the 2022 season somehow, which is where nets, Wiffle Balls, tees, and makeshift mounds come into play.

“We are working with what we can get, but we’ve got the really weird mounds that are two pieces that you got to put together, and we got the big cage that we are pulling for 15 minutes a day, but we are making it happen,” Lynx senior Logan Smith said.

A program on the rise, the Lynx made the ASAA Division I State Baseball tournament for the first time in 10 seasons, much in part to the offseason and spring training dedication.

“I think it’s actually been the best this year,” said utility player Peyton Montagna. “I feel like all our guys are really connected and our coaches are really invested in getting us better and getting us ready for the season.”

Soon, they can trade their sneakers for spikes, rubber for rawhide, and be released from the batting cage.

“Oh my god, it’s like the best feeling in the world honestly,” Montagna said of getting back on the field. “I miss it nine months of the year, but yeah no, I’m ready.”

Dimond’s first game of the season is scheduled for April 19, if Alaska weather permits.

Copyright 2022 KTUU. All rights reserved.