The North Branch Nighthawks Town Ball team possesses some seasoned veterans once again this year — some who have been with the program over the last eight to nine years. It can serve as a big advantage for the group, which now has several new additions in a variety of younger players who are looking to make an immediate impact.
Jimmy Skroch, Nick Solberg, Clint Mattson and Nick Pilz make up the leaders at the helm, while recent North Branch grads Andrew Orf, Noah Thorsen, Tanner Helin, Ty Ellsworth and Lucas Goggin formulate the new young bunch.
“Those new guys have made a quick impact on our team–and have pretty much saved our season,” manager Jim Skroch said.
The Nighthawks are off to its best start in quite some time, as the squad owns a 5-1 record as of Thursday, June 27.
“It’s going surprisingly well, we are 5-1, and we’ve really turned from a pitching-dominant team to a hitting team,” Skroch said. “We are sort of shifting our strengths around.”
He notes the lack of durable arms as a potential concern for the team moving forward, as he’s optimistic of the pitching group getting through the rough waters.
“All of our five new players are super-excited for the challenge and opportunity to showcase themselves. There’s a big influx of personality and energy. I’m looking forward to seeing how the young kids grow, and how it meshes with the older guys’ leadership. It’s a cool dynamic to have the bunch of core guys that we’ve had since the inception of the Nighthawks eight years ago, to have five new guys come up and make an impact. It’s fun,” Skroch said.
As the team seemingly exceeded its own expectations up to this point in the season, Skroch detailed his preseason hopes and how that may have changed over the course of the first six games.
“My expectations were that this was a rebuilding year because we have lost four of our five starting pitchers over the last three years, so we have one pitcher left on our team that was a regular starter,” he said.
“So my expectations were to plug and play and do whatever we can to have fun and have the best season we could. With that being said, with the addition of the new guys and them making the impact they have so far, we’re 5-1. So my expectations have been exceeded, that’s for sure. I couldn’t be happier.”
In terms of staying consistent and adding more fuel to what’s been a great season so far for the Nighthawks, Skroch believes health is a main factor.
“Getting arms healthy is very important, along with quality pitching. I’ve used more pitchers than I ever have in a season. As they grow and get stronger throughout the season, hopefully that continues, because our pitching is going to be a key factor for us,” he said.
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