With eight state championships under their belt, and thirty pro players produced, it is undeniable that the Cherry Creek Baseball team has developed into a solid, dominant sports team. Lead by and head coach Marc Johnson, Cherry Creek is off to a strong start this season with a 8-3 record [as of 4/11/18].

Building such a successful sports program starts months before the first pitch is thrown in Spring.

“We’re playing baseball all summer to prepare for the spring,” Josh Weissberg, head coach of the sophomore team said. “We’re also working with players during the off season as far as in the weight rooms, at winter workouts”.

“We are hitting a lot of cage work, a lot of hitting in the cages, and a lot of throwing off the mound for pitchers. It’s a lot of drills and a lot of swing mechanics.”

All of this preparation comes to a head during tryout season. Tryouts are “a full week long of evaluations on arm strength, hitting ability, swing mechanics, throwing mechanics and a lot of scrimaging live scrimaging to see them play in live situations,” Weissberg said. A number of factors from hitting contact, to baseball knowledge, to player character are taken into account.

“We always try to consider all aspects of a player before making a decision and we always try to do what’s best for not only the player but the program,” Weissberg said.

Veterans of the Varsity team, like senior Tanner O’Tremba, expect the most out of the team, “I think this team knows that at any point a team in baseball could come out and beat another team on any given day. We know that everyday we are going to see the other team’s best so we never take anyone lightly knowing we have that target.”

This mentality is mirrored in the team’s attitude on their Spring break tip to Arizona this year.

“The purpose when you go on a trip like that is to develop and as baseball players we take our jobs seriously,” Sophomore Jack Moss said. “It enhances chemistry and ability when as a program you take a week to focus on baseball only. Everyone embraces it. It’s a grind and a process that we all buy into to give us the best shot at success”

Creek’s baseball strategy is to “take each game one at a time but to ultimately win a state championship together,” according to O’Tremba. Teamwork is heavily emphasized throughout the program.

“We love each other like brothers and embrace the target of being Cherry Creek baseball players together,” Moss said.

O’Tremba knows how important leadership is to varsity baseball.“Being on varsity for four years I definitely feel like a leader,” O’Tremba said, “but I know that everyone on the team needs to be like a leader to win. I just do what I can to help my team to win.”