NorthWood Baseball: Risedorph Seizes Second Chance At Panthers’ Helm
NAPPANEE — A.J. Risedorph had hoped to hold the reins of NorthWood baseball for some time, but after the former Panthers JV assistant was passed over in favor of then-JV head coach Jay Sheets for the top spot in the program three years ago, he had pretty much given up on that hope.
In fact, Risedorph — who serves as a varsity assistant for NorthWood’s basketball program as well as a student council sponsor at the high school — decided to relinquish even his position as varsity assistant coach of the baseball team with his wife expecting their second child in the winter of 2016. There was simply too much on his plate, and something had to give.
After taking a year away from baseball, Risedorph is back, and he’s back in the very position he thought he’d never get another chance at. With the blessing of his wife, he’s ready to take over where Sheets left off at the head of the reigning regional- and Northern Lakes Conference-champion Panthers.
“I was contacted by the athletic director, Norm Sellers very early on in the summer. Jay Sheets decided to resign, and I was basically able to take most of the summer to think about it,” said Risedorph. “I had a few conversations with them, and my wife and I both thought why not? This is probably one of the last opportunities. We didn’t expect to have this chance again since Jay was still fairly young and everything. So we jumped on it together. My wife and I both have kind of made this our mission. We’re excited about it for sure.”
As a former assistant coach at both the JV and varsity levels at NorthWood, the transition has been a relatively smooth one for Risedorph. Helping in that regard is the fact that the rest of Sheets’ coaching staff has remained intact, with Matt Cox back as hitting coach, and Greg Estepp and Aaron Arnold returning to guide the JV Panthers. With the addition of pitching coach Kevin Roberts to the staff, Risedorph — himself a former pitcher at IPFW — can focus on the big picture stuff that a head coach needs to think about.
“What’s nice is the fact that there have been so many great coaches before me that have set the tone for how this program should be run, so when kids are coming in there’s very little change that they have to get used to, just because of the experience that I had under Coach (Zach) Benko and then under Coach Sheetz. It’s been a very nice transition for them and for myself,” Risedorph said.
Risedorph now carries the torch for a program that boasts five straight sectional championships. Last year’s run raised the bar even higher, as the Panthers completed a perfect NLC slate as part of a 26-game win streak that concluded with the school’s first regional championship since 1983. After graduating five seniors from that squad, however, the club has some significant vacancies to fill. This year’s team is anxious to take it a step further, but there’s bound to be some learning curve, cautions Risedorph. If they can get through a demanding Northern Lakes Conference schedule with their heads on right, NorthWood’s new skipper is excited to see what his players can do come postseason time.
“Success breeds more success at times, but what we’ve got to be careful of is with such a transition with myself and even players, that even though we expect to win and win championships, 26-2 last year and 14-0 in the NLC, that’s tough to do. That’s an incredible season,” Risedorph said.
“The course of our year, the way it’s scheduled, our conference is so competitive, so we are going to definitely face our share of adversity, and I think that’s a great thing… Our guys are going to have to have what I would call a next pitch or next play mentality, where regardless of the outcomes we’re always going to look to improve and take failure as a learning experience, because that’s what baseball teaches us. We’re definitely excited about the challenge and the process. Hopefully we can do what these kids want to do and get to a semi-state and win that one.”
The Panthers have a number of holdovers back from last year’s remarkable run.
Junior Alec Holcomb returns for a junior season on the mound and possibly at third base after pitching some big innings during NorthWood’s tournament run last spring, while senior Matt Dutkowski gives the team another solid presence at pitcher and at first base. Senior Preston King — a Lakeland Community College pitching commit — adds another arm to the starting rotation, and Risedorph will look to use him in relief as well.
Senior Brant Mast will continue his career as the team’s standout second baseman after a junior campaign that saw him crank out five home runs and 27 RBIs. Payton Bear is back in the outfield and at DH after starting to roll late last year coming off an injury at the front end of the season, and fellow seniors Sawyer and Hunter Warren are back at short stop/ pitcher and at catcher, respectively for the Panthers.
“These kids, one thing that I can appreciate about them is they’re definitely headstrong. Some of them have ice in their veins; you never see any emotion from them,” said Risedorph. “They don’t let the game really get carried away. That’s one thing that I think I appreciate a lot about our two pitchers in Holcomb and Dutkowski — they think the game and process it, and you can’t even tell. They definitely as pitchers buy into that next pitch mentality, and that’s important.”
Cam Hershberger and Brock Miller are back for their senior seasons and will look to contribute, as will athletic junior Ethan Miller after playing some time in center field last season. His younger brother, sophomore Jaden, is also looking for an outfield spot, as well as promising sophomore Cooper Davis, who could also fill in at first base and give NorthWood some more pitching depth. Juniors Trey Allman and Kyler Hauptli are both in the mix to play third base and/or DH for the club, and Landon Gessinger – the quarterback for NorthWood’s successful football team last fall — will play his first season of high school baseball and looks to give the team a spark running the bases and playing some outfield.
“I feel like all of them have a great opportunity to play a significant role this year. That’s something that we’ve talked a lot about is what roles that they’re willing to accept and have for us, and I feel like so far a lot of these guys are really buying into that,” said Risedorph. “In the outfield, it’s really hard to say because right now it’s open competition for our corner outfield spots. We’re pretty solid defensively out there; it’s a matter of who is going to really start hitting offensively for us.”
NorthWood opens with Westview tonight at 5 p.m. The Panthers begin NLC play with Concord at home on April 16.