Superstition is as much a part of baseball as the sacrifice bunt, grass stains and sunflower seeds, and the Pella High baseball team is certainly not exempt from a number of quirky rituals themselves. The latest addition came this past week, when several previous days of heavy rains forced the Little Dutch to take their cuts for batting practice on the all-purpose field turf at the stadium to avoid damage to the baseball field.
As the practices on the turf continued, the team’s in-game performances at the plate improved, and the wins began piling up. Little Dutch Head Coach Aaron Reasland said the team faced an intriguing question as the week began to draw to a close and the baseball field began to dry out.
“We finally got a dry day on Friday, and we had a tough decision to make. Our batting average up and down the line-up has improved this week with the approach we’ve taken down on the football field; so do you go back out on the baseball field and go back to your old ways, or do you stick with what’s working?” said Reasland.
“As we talked with some of our senior leaders, the decision was made [that] we need to continue to stick with what’s working and put ourselves in a position to succeed.”
Silly superstition or not, success is exactly what they got, as the Little Dutch put up 11 hits in a 7-5 win over South Tama on Friday night. That gave the Pella baseball team four wins in five games in the last week and moved the team to an 11-12 overall mark and an 8-7 record in the Little Hawkeye Conference.
The Little Dutch host Grinnell on Monday night.

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