Once fierce rivals on the diamond, baseball players from Owen-Withee and Thorp will be teammates moving forward. Starting next season, Thorp and Owen-Withee will co-op for varsity baseball. This …
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Once fierce rivals on the diamond, baseball players from Owen-Withee and Thorp will be teammates moving forward. Starting next season, Thorp and Owen-Withee will co-op for varsity baseball. This season the two schools are combining for a junior varsity season.
“The first goal was to simply keep both the Owen-Withee and Thorp programs surviving,” explains Coach Peter Devine.
But survival is not the destination for this program according to Devine, “We believe our schools can combine to create competitive varsity baseball teams in the near future.”
“Thorp was very receptive to us after reaching out about providing players this year,” explains Devine, “The reason for that is that the coaches from both teams want what’s best for everybody.”
He adds, “The experience has been mutually beneficial” because “right now Thorp needs us, and we need Thorp.”
As for the kids, they are motivated by their love of the game.
“Any kids who came out during this transition period of no varsity and not just being Owen-Withee, have come out simply for the love of baseball,” says Devine.
Co-ops can be difficult sometimes. There are additional logistics that include travel for practice. There’s the issue of who will host the games. For former Blackhawk baseball players, one thing that might take some getting used to is that the Owen-Withee high school diamond, which has served as the backdrop for spring afternoons for generations of Owen-Withee baseball players and which resides in the fond memories of those who played ball for their alma mater, may have hosted its last varsity game as home games for the co-op will be played at Northside Park in Thorp.
Devine assures us that this does not mean that baseball will no longer be played in Owen-Withee.
“We have a strong youth baseball program with great coaches who volunteer their time,” explains Devine, “The junior high will play at the high school field in Owen and grades 3-6 will play Saturday games at the Withee softball field.”
You can check out the Owen-Withee Blackhawk Baseball Facebook page for updates.
(Editor’s note: There was no photo available at the time of publication)
