Athletes coming from junior high typically do not make the varsity team their first year in high school. There are a few exceptions though, freshman Braden Shewmake made the varsity baseball and basketball team this year.

“My favorite sport is baseball; I have played it since I was little,” Shewmake said. “I try to go to the [batting] cages with my dad as often as possible, as well as go to the weight room at home and school.”

Making the team was not the stopping point for Shewmake; that was not enough.

“Shewmake is a very well rounded, strong player,” Varsity Baseball Coach Andrews said. “I am very glad he is on the team.”

He has been playing baseball since the age of 3. There is not a time in his life where he wasn’t playing.

“I had to have motivation and dedication,” Shewmake said. “I had to want the spot.”

With his dad a baseball coach, Shewmake started playing right off the bat.

“I definitely have to work harder at baseball, but I enjoy it so I don’t consider it working,” Shewmake said.