By HUNTER O. LYLE
As teams warm up their bats and break in the gloves for the upcoming baseball season, they already have their eyes focused across the horizon on the District 9 playoffs. While for some that faraway milestone is a hope and for others more of an expectation, each will have to fall back on their youth and development to get a shot.
A season ago, the Bradford baseball team put the wraps on their 2025 season that saw them produce a 5-11-1 record. After a promising preseason and initial start, the Owls quickly fell into a late slump that included six losses in their final eight games.
“We started off pretty well but I think towards the tail end we had some arm injuries and our bats went cold, which didn’t translate into wins,” said Bradford head coach Eric Haynoski. “The defense and the pitching held up pretty good for what we had at the tail end of the season, but we just couldn’t get the sticks going.”
After losing seven seniors in the offseason, Bradford is looking towards their younger players to not only pick up the torch for the here-and-now, but to also fortify the future, starting with their arms.
To insulate the mound, the Owls are looking towards their junior class, specifically Tarren Reese, Brody Haviland and Braylon Austin. All having significant innings pitched under their belt, the Owls are looking to utilize their specialized skills come opening day.
“Tarren’s got that dog in him. He’ll go out there and compete and he doesn’t care who he’s facing. He’s going to go out there and give them a challenge. Haviland’s our flamethrower. He’s getting up into the upper 80s and he’s starting to really throw a nice curveball. He’s just farm boy tough,” said Haynoski. “Braylon’s going to be our closer. We’ve kind of developed into that closer role. His baseball IQ is through the roof and he’s just one of those kids who isn’t afraid of a challenge.”
Alongside his work looking downrange, Reese will also play a major hand in replenishing the void at the plate left by last year’s big-hitting departing class – the 2025 seniors accounted for 45 Bradford’s 100 total hits and 36 of their 72 runs.
During his sophomore season, Tarren Reese tied his brother Talan Reese for the most hits accumulated at 15, posting a 0.283 batting average, eight runs and four runs batted in. He and Austin, who totaled five hits, two runs and a team second-best seven RBIs, are joined by sophomore Lucas Wallace and senior Ben Woodhouse, who combined for 10 hits, nine runs and four RBIs, as the Owls’ go-to sluggers.
Alongside their seasoned returners, the Owls will also inject some new blood into the veins in the form of eight sophomores and three starting freshmen. Haynoski believes if he and his staff can accomplish their goal of getting them up to speed, the season, as well as the future, is bright for Bradford.
“I’d love for us to win a D9 championship. That’s the ultimate goal. I think that’s what you work for. We’re going to be extremely young but we can’t use that as an excuse,” said Haynoski. “You take your best nine out there, each and every play and if you get the best out of them and they’re confident, the sky’s the limit.”
Barring inclement weather, the Owls are set to begin their season on Wednesday, March 25 with a home game against Johnsonburg. The opener is set for a 4 p.m. start, to be played either at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford or at Callahan Field in Bradford.
Over in Duke Center, the Terrors are also hoping to pick up the slack left by a large senior class.
One year ago, the Otto-Eldred baseball team was off to a hot start, picking up three wins in their first four games while racking up 30 early runs scored. However, as the spring progressed, their momentum waivered, ultimately rolling out to a 7-8 season that narrowly missed out on the postseason.
“Last year, big picture-wise, we were just one game shy of making the playoffs. We let a couple get away from us at the end of the year that we should have won,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Lance Baker. “That was obviously disappointing, but we did come back and win our final two games even though we were eliminated, which really shows the character of the team.”
Looking to get back into the District 9 Class A playoffs for the first time since 2023, O-E will have to do so amidst replacing the vast majority of their core. Altogether, the Terrors’ now-graduated six seniors – all of which started – compiled 68 of their 101 hits, 46 of their 87 runs and 29 of their 74 RBIs. However, similar to Terror sports this year, O-E’s returning cast are well-seasoned themselves.
Stepping up into the starting lineup are sophomores Ryan Schenfield and Wyatt Blendinger, who both tallied double-digit hits and RBIs as freshmen a season ago – Bleninger led the team in RBIs with 13 –, junior Michael Sheeler, who ended his sophomore season with a second-best 11 runs and senior Shane Magee, who posted nine runs, five hits and four RBIs last spring.
The Terrors’ main effort this preseason will lie on the mound, where they will have to replace Jared Obenrader.
Throughout his entire high school career, Obenrader was developed to be the man on the mound. Registering double-digits innings pitched starting from his freshmen year, including 45-plus in both of the past two years, Obenrader easily earned the title of Ace. Filling the gulf left behind will be a multi-man job.
“We had a total of 92 innings pitched last year and we only return 22 of those. With that being said, Ryan Schenfield threw a decent amount for us last year. He’s the one returning with the most experience in terms of pitching,” said Baker. “We’re definitely going to look at (Michael) Sheeler and Jack Sherry, they’ve had some good bull-pen sessions so far. Those are the three that will carry the load.”
The Terrors will open their 2026 campaign with a trip North of the border. On Tuesday, they will head to Salamanca’s turf for a 5 p.m season opener.
While the Owls and Terrors are looking to finally earn a spot in the District 9 postseason, Port Allegany is hoping to keep their seat warm.
Completing their fifth winning season in a row and a rout of the North Tier League, the Gators are fresh off another trip to the Class 2A bracket. Ending the regular season with just three losses, Port took down Coudersport in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the eventual champions DuBois Central Catholic in the semifinals.
“I enjoyed last season. We had quite a few seniors and it was a good way for those guys to end their careers,” said Port Allegany head coach Rick Veilleux. “It was successful. We lost a lot of depth but I think we’re equally as strong, if not stronger, this year with the kids we have coming back.”
Similar to Bradford and O-E, the Gators lost a hefty group of battle-tested seniors, totaling in nine. However, their next men up are ready, willing and able to pick up where they left off.
Out of the nine returning letterwinners, three came away from last year as standout sluggers. At the top of the stat sheet was Kellen Veilleux, who recorded a team-best 27 hits, 26 runs and 18 RBIs on a 0.415 batting average as a sophomore. Aidan Bliss returns fresh off a junior season of 22 hits, 25 runs and 19 RBIs while Nick Wilfong posted a team-best 33 runs alongside 25 hits and 16 RBIs.
Wilfong, who stands in Rick Veilleux’s mind as the winning piece of the puzzle, will also dominate time on the mound throughout his senior season. Last year, Wilfong threw for 40 of the Gators’ 117 innings in 2025, registering 53 strikeouts while allowing just 32 hits and 19 walks.
“(Nick’s) our number one starter on the mound. He’s very good, nice kid, great to work with. You couldn’t ask for a better kid to coach,” said Rick Veilleux. “Good hitter, good speed, plays terrific short stop when he’s not pitching. He’s definitely valuable to our team.”
Having confidence by committee with both their mound and plate boasting seasoned veterans, Port is eager to get back to work as they strive for a D9 title.
“These kids are used to winning. This group has come up and been successful through football, baseball, wrestling. They put the work in to get where they’re at so I’m very excited for this season,” said Rick Veilleux. “We don’t want to just make the playoffs, we want to go past the D9 playoffs. We felt like we should have done something more last year, it kind of left a bad taste in our mouths, so we want to go past that and I think we have a group of kids that will be successful at that.”
The Gators open their season on the road. This Thursday, Port will travel to see Smethport at 4:30 p.m.
