Tiara Rose is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Camelback High School for AZPreps365.com

Following a tough 2019 season, the Camelback Spartan baseball team hopes to edge regional rivals this spring.

The Spartans’ varsity team finished the 2019 season at 4-16. Each of its four wins came against 5A Metro foes.

“We look forward to the region games, the teams that we can compete against and play,” assistant coach Brian Asanovich said.

Asanovich also coaches the junior varsity team at Camelback, which finished the 2019 season with a 12-5 record. With many of those players moving up to varsity and the team projected to have twice as many seniors as last year, Asanovich said one of the Spartans’ strengths this year is experience.

“It’s a faster game at the varsity level, but at least they know what to expect,” Asanovich said.

Two of the returning seniors are pitcher Alan Calzadillas and catcher Juan Ramos, who said working on offense and mechanics will help them in the first part of the season. Ramos and Calzadillas agreed that this year’s squad has a different attitude than last year.

“There’s more commitment," Calzadillas said. "There’s more players coming out to practice, and we want it more.”

Ramos looked around the field when he said, “We have more players and we’ll have more energy.”

One person who isn’t fazed by the number of players on the field is coach Todd Goertzen, who said he has been coaching at Camelback for 35 years.

“It doesn’t matter if there are 30 kids out here or five, he’s going to coach them hard no matter what,” Asanovich said.

The crowd at Thursday’s practice included student athletes from a variety of backgrounds. Some are entering their fourth year playing Spartan baseball, others played football in the fall and are trying something new. One player mixed into the group of fielders won’t suit up in orange and blue this season because he graduated last May.

Adrian Saenz,  who helped set up and run drills during practice, said he asked Goertzen to help the Spartans this year in preparation for Phoenix College’s baseball tryouts next year.

Arizona may be a hub for baseball at the professional level as the host of Cactus League spring training, but Asanovich said it is hard for some players who attend Camelback High to afford baseball outside of the high school scene.

“Baseball is an expensive sport,” Asanovich said. “This is all they do, and all they get. Two hours a day with us. Three months out of the year. It’s hard for them. It’s hard for us as coaches, but we try to coach ‘em up as best we can.”

The Spartans will participate in the Cougar Classic tournament at Bourgade Catholic High School beginning on Wednesday. The Spartans will play four games in four days starting with a 3:30 p.m. match-up versus the Dysart High Demons. Camelback’s first regional contest will be a St. Patrick’s Day game against the Sierra Linda High Bulldogs on March 17.