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Preseason Countdown: No. 39 Castleview

February 6, 2015

By John Cackowski
State Director

Leading up to the start of the high school season, we will count down the top 50 preseason teams every day as part of our comprehensive season coverage. The top 50 teams are picked from all classifications, and are not divided up by class level:

Team: Castle View
Preseason Rank: 39
2014 Record: 10-11
Conference: Continental
CHSAA Class: 5A
Head Coach: Shawn Wyss
Playoff Run: Lost to Regis 5-4 in District Championship
2014 Final Rank: 18
Returning Starters: 3
Returning Pitchers: 2

TOP PLAYERS:
Zach Broussely, 1B, 2015, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds
Mitch Bivona P/SS, 2015, 5-foot-10, 145 pounds 
Zach Witonsky, 2B, 2016, 5-foot-8, 160 pounds 
Ryley Humrighouse, RHP/INF, 2016, 5-foot-9, 160 pounds 
Tyler Henninger, RHP, 2016,  6-Foot-0, 175 pounds
Jake Henderson, OF/DH, 2015, 6-foot-0, 200 pounds 

X-FACTOR:
Young Talent:  Overall talent and depth are good, but young. Have several college level players in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 classes. The Saber Cats will compete game in and game out.  If the young talent which will stock this line up grows up quickly, they will force teams to take notice.     

 NEW PLAYER TO WATCH: 
Tyler Henninger, Polished as a pitcher, getting stronger, if velocity comes around as he physically matures he could be one of the top guys in the state 

KEY PLAYER LOST:
Ben Dalke: Graduated

STAT RAT: 
The Sabercats lose 10 of their 11 home runs, and 88 of their 112 RBI's from 2014 to graduated seniors.

BOTTOM LINE:
In a league where the slimmest of margins separates teams from moving on and having their season come to a quick halt, the Saber Cats have learned this lesson well. In 2014 the Saber Cats were tied 4-4 with league foe Regis Jesuit going into the bottom of the 6th inning in the district championship game. A win would have sent Castle View on to the schools' first final 8. Regis would score a run in the bottom of 6th to move on all the way to the 5A state championship game. The 2015 version will look to build on a good playoff run from last year and lean heavily on Broussely and his 33 games of varsity experience, Bivona who got his feet wet with 30 plate appearances, Witonsky who scored 11 runs last year and Henninger who pitched 12 innings. Add in some new faces to the line up including Ryley Humrighouse and you have a team that will be solid for a few years to come.  


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