Members of the 2019 Fountain Hills High School baseball team found themselves in a lot of tough jams this season. Sometimes the Falcons prevailed in these tight moments and other times they didn’t. But the one thing that was always true was that the team never gave up.

The Falcons’ season began with a close loss to Snowflake, 5-4. FHHS would win its next game against Washington but then drop the next three match-ups in a row.

Head coach Joe Merklin said he believes that the sluggish start to this season was a result of forces outside of the team’s control.

“We started slow this season because we had a lot of guys finishing up with winter sports while we started practicing,” Merklin explained. “The weather was also an issue. We had a handful of pre-season games and a tournament that had to be canceled because of weather and I think missing that play time had an effect.”

The Falcons proceeded to shake off the dust in the next two games, scoring two big wins against St. Johns (10-0) and Desert Christian (15-0).

“I think that the guys really gained confidence with those wins,” Merklin said. “At that point they were getting more and more comfortable playing together as a team and I think they also were starting to buy into the program.”

This was Merklin and his coaching staff’s first season at the helm, and so the Falcon players had to adjust to his way of running a baseball program. Merklin credits the seniors on the team for helping make that transition.

“We have a good bunch of kids on the team but I think our five seniors really stepped up as leaders this season,” Merklin said. “They were consistently leading by example out on the field.”

For the rest of the regular season the Falcons traded wins and losses almost evenly. Their longest win streak came at the end of March when they won three games back to back.

Despite struggling to chain wins together, the Falcons were still able get put together enough wins to advance to the playoffs for the first time in a few years.

The Falcons beat Show Low 4-1 in the first round of the postseason to advance to the second game against Payson, which turned out to be Merklin’s favorite game of the season.

“Previously in the season we had travelled up to Payson for a double-header where we lost both games, so it was nice to go out and get that win against the number three ranked team,” Merklin said. “It was some the cleanest baseball we played all season.”

After beating Payson 11-2 the Falcons advanced to the next game against Sabino, the eventual state champions, and lost 10-0.

Now that the season is over Merklin and his staff are already thinking about next season and what they can do to improve.

“Right now our hope is that between now and September, we get to play around 40 games,” Merklin said. “If we can do that, I think that will put us in a good spot going into next season. We can avoid that sluggishness at the beginning of the season.”