Most years, South spring sports have a few freshmen who make varsity, but this year, on the baseball team, there was only one. Pitcher and first baseman Gordon Williams ’29 made South’s varsity baseball team for the 2026 season. Going into a sport as the only freshman can be hard, but if you are with the right people, it is easy.
“I am excited to be on varsity, even though I am the only freshman, because your grade really doesn’t matter. We’re all just trying to make a run deep into the playoffs like last year,” Williams said.
The baseball season has barely started, but things are coming up that will welcome Williams even more to the varsity team than he has already been.
“I look forward to going to Florida for Spring Break to play in spring training games, which is exclusive to varsity,” Williams said.
The upperclassmen have been inviting, and don’t let the age difference make an impact on how they treat their teammate. Just because there is an age gap doesn’t mean that everyone who made the team didn’t earn and deserve their spot.
“A lot of them [upperclassmen] offer rides if needed and have given me some gear for practice,” Williams said. “I believe that they’re not only nice because I’m the only freshman, but mainly because I’ve known some of them previously to making varsity, and nothing’s really changed.”
Making varsity was not just luck; it was hard work and dedication to the sport that made him the player he is today. Varsity means more than just in-season work; it is also off-season training.
“Most of the offseason was just two days of team practice, three to four days of lifting, and one to two extra hitting sessions before or after school,” Williams said.
Williams hopes that this hard work will carry into future seasons and pay off when it comes to getting recruited to higher levels of baseball.
“The goal is to play college baseball,” Williams said. “There is also a goal of getting drafted out of high school, as baseball is one of the few sports where that is a possibility.”
