COMEBACK TOUR
SOUTH CENTRE TWP. — Central Columbia’s Trystan Crawford was ready to break onto the scene.
His freshman season was wiped out due to a knee injury he suffered in a basketball game. His sophomore year was then stolen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I finally got put on the uniform,” Crawford said. “I was definitely excited to get out there and play. Missing those two years, was not great but it created some extra motivation for this year.
“I have not played basketball since the injury. It was kind of my keep-busy sport outside of baseball season, and that came back to bite me”
The junior’s time had finally come, and he was ready.
He had a hit in 50% of his at-bats, reaching base more than 60% of the time. He also held opponents to under a run per nine innings.
For his efforts, Crawford has been named the Press Enterprise high school baseball MVP.
“With not having the high school season, a lot of the [training] was on me — getting to the weight room and working out regularly,” Crawford said. “I got to some travel ball last summer and that definitely helped. It was tough not knowing when we’d get to play [high school baseball] again.”
Crawford not only hit for a high average but showed some great power. Of his 26 hits, 14 went for extra-bases (six home runs, a triple and seven doubles.) He drove in 27 runs while scoring 23 times.
“He was just seeing the ball really well,” Central coach Kirk Seesholtz said. “... He could have been doing this earlier in his career had he not lost those first two years.”
Seesholtz credits Crawford’s love for baseball and always being seen on a diamond for his contributions — both in the box and on the mound — for his breakout campaign.
“He just lives baseball,” Seesholtz said. “He plays in different leagues, getting as much experience as possible. He puts in the extra work, and will sometimes get yelled at by maintenance because they’re preparing for another game and he’ll have to move to another field to keep practicing.”
As impressive as he was helping the Jays score runs, he was just as great at shutting down opposing lineups.
In 29 innings pitched, Crawford pitched to the tune of a 0.72 ERA and 43 strikeouts. He had just under a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio, allowing 16 base on balls. It all amounted to him finishing the year with a 5-0 record and two saves for the Blue Jays.
“What really started working on about halfway through the season was I started to throw my changup more — adding that third or fourth pitch really helped me,” Crawford said.
And all it took was one word from the coaches: efficiency. Crawford did pitch with such after shaking off some rust at the start of the season.
“He has two really good pitches, and sometimes a third plus-pitch that he can work in,” Seesholtz said. “His breaking ball is one of the best I’ve seen out of a right-hander in the past so many years as long as he has the feel for it.
“His secondary pitches are pretty good as well and when he doesn’t have his fastball, he has other pitches to help get him by. We preached being efficient, and right now, he has command of those pitches — that’s good for him and for us.”
Seesholtz saw Crawford put everything together in a game at Loyalsock.
The Lancers entered the contest having won six of their last seven contests in late April, but none of that mattered to Crawford.
“He was pitching that day and hit an opposite-field home run. That took the wind out of Loyalsock’s sails,” Seesholtz said. “[Loyalsock’s] dugout stopped talking right after that. He then pitched five or six innings to shut them down.”
With one more year left of high school baseball, Crawford knows he can get even better if he puts in more work.
“I don’t pitch nearly as much on the travel team as I do in high school, but I’m just trying to pick up right where I left off on offense and staying even on defense,” Crawford said.
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonl...
