How high’s the water, momma? The old Johnny Cash tune has gotten plenty of play each spring as flood waters challenge farmers’ acreage across the Delta. But Mother Nature’s barrage of rain and wet weather is keeping area baseball teams bottled up in gyms and indoor facilities itching to hit a real grounder. At North Sunflower Academy, the Rebels will have to reschedule their home opener against Sharkey Issaquena that was not played due to the weather this past Tuesday. The team will hopefully open up today as they travel to Sharkey for a 4:00 p.m. first pitch. The team will host Deer Creek on Tuesday March 2 and travel to Humphreys on March 3 before taking a break until March 17 when they host Delta in conference action.
Head Coach and Athletic Director, Todd Kitchings has a senior laden team that can’t wait to find any somewhat dry dirt to play and even practice on this season. The Rebels will compete in a four-team conference on the 1A level.
“We’ve got Delta (Academy), Calhoun (Academy), Desoto and us,” Kitchings said. “All three of those teams will be really good this year but I expect some big things from our team this year. We’re a senior led group and this team has been together for three years and I expect them to know how to play the game and play it well.”
With his “team mentality” approach to the game on all levels, Coach Kitchings didn’t want to single out any players.
The team will have five seniors, Stephan Chamblee, Dakota Dawson, Chandler Hayes, Kaid King and Parker Beck. Junior Jacob Henley and sophomore Nick Billhofer will be relied on heavily as well.
Coach Kitchings is also in his third year and notes the team has been practicing in their indoor facility for the past two months.
He and the team are itching to open the doors and get some grass stains on their uniforms and equipment.
“We’re just ready to get outside and see some sunshine and hit some ground balls on some grass for a change,” he said. “This is a tough conference and all of these teams are good year in and year out. We just want to compete every game. We’re supposed to go up to Sharkey and hopefully it will be dry. We’ll do the best we can.”
