Fort Dale sends four to AISA All-Star game
Published 4:41 pm Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Fort Dale Academy baseball fans will see more than a few familiar faces at Monday’s Alabama Independent School Association All-Star Baseball games for juniors and seniors at Montgomery’s Paterson Field.
The school is being represented with four athletes total: juniors Ryan Burkett and Drake Cabe, as well as seniors Chip Taylor and Chase Whiddon.
Fort Dale Academy head baseball coach Josh Beverly said that this year’s all-stars signify a high-water mark for the school.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve generally had at least one a year,” Beverly said.
“Last year, I think we had three, but this is the most we’ve ever had on there.”
Beverly said that his seniors have laid a solid foundation for years to come.
“Our juniors will be coming back, and that’s a good thing,” Beverly added.
“They’ve all had really, really good years and helped us reach heights that we haven’t reached in a while.”
For this year’s all-star game, the members of the AISA coaches association voted on the athletes from each school and split them up accordingly with no distinctions made between west or east.
Care was taken to make sure the teams were split as evenly as possible, as far as pitching and other aspects were concerned.
This means that it’s possible that the four Fort Dale all-stars won’t all play for the same team.
But for the seniors on the team, another chance to play with or against one another in postseason play is reward enough. Fortunately, it isn’t their only chance.
“They’re actually playing on a summer league team together this year, and I’m actually coaching the senior game, so that’ll be special to get to coach them one last time,” Beverly said.
“You play nine innings, get to meet a lot of people and it’ll be fun.”
AISA all-star baseball kicks off Monday at 4 p.m. for the junior game, and seniors play at 7 p.m.