The long path of improvement

When the season started, first-year Dover baseball coach Dylan Blundell had realistic expectations.

“We just want to get at least one this year,” said Blundell, a Kingfisher High School graduate and son of KHS head baseball coach Stan Blundell.

By “one,” Blundell meant wins. He was, after all, taking over a program that couldn’t even finish last fall’s season due to a lack of players.

When the Longhorns’ 2019 fall campaign came to a close Sept. 26 with a 15-1 loss to Blair in a Class B district elimination game, it was a disappointing close, but not a fruitless venture.

The Longhorns finished the year 3-14.

“We truly came a long way this fall,” Blundell said. “We had some older guys step up and be leaders and several freshmen come in and play important roles for the team.”Last year’s struggles combined with results over the summer helped lead to Blundell’s cautiousness entering this fall.“This summer, we struggled heavily with just throwing strikes,” he said. “And when we’d throw it close enough to be hit, we didn’t usually make the play.”That began to change as the fall season wore on. Blundell said pitchers like Damion Turner, Eduardo Gamez and Kasen Harviston were consistently throwing strikes.“And the guys worked incredibly hard all summer and fall and have gotten so much better in the field to where we’re now capable of making about every play,” Blundell said.

A year ago, shutout losses were about the norm. This season, Dover was held scoreless just four times in 17 games.

“We got a lot better at the plate and on the bases. We learned how to put bunts down and step up to the plate looking to have a quality at-bat every time up,” Blundell said.

It took Dover just four games to get the first win as the Longhorns outlasted Cimarron 13-12 in extra innings on Aug. 22.

They bested Cimarron again, 5-3, on Sept. 16. The third win came a week later when Dover toppled Cement 7-3.

That had Blundell “hoping” for at least one win in last weekend’s district at Calumet.

The district started with a 15-4 loss to the host Chieftains, which wasn’t unexpected.

Blundellsaidhethought his team would fare better against Blair, though it didn’t happen.

That didn’t leave Blundell discouraged.

“Overall, we’ve improved much more than I imagined possible going into the season,” he said. “I can’t say enough how proud I am of each one of them for their hard work and dedication to getting better every day.”Blundell said part of the process of improving is taken from his own dad’s methods.“As a school, we’ve got our kids buying into the idea that everything worth doing is worth doing right, and if you believe in and fall in love with the process the successes will come,” he said.“Our mindset – taken right out of the Kingfisher baseball playbook – is ‘next pitch.’ “It’s all about moving on from whatever good or bad happened in the past and placing all your concentration on being prepared for what’s next ahead.”As Blundell sends most of his team into the gym for basketball season, he also can’t help but look ahead to the spring.

“I can’t wait to continue to work with them going forward and am excited to see the success coach (Aaron) Norton and coach (Jeff) Liles have with these guys in basketball.”