Every at-bat and every pitch was a high-pressure situation for Southwest Florida Christian Academy’s Max Rippl last season.
In his mind, the weight of the King’s record-breaking season fell on his shoulders. Despite understanding baseball is a game of failure, a big hit or strikeout was Rippl’s expectation with each opportunity he received as a junior.
It wore on him mentally. He said it was the difference between a productive season and a great season.
If he wanted his club to build on its success this year and take the next step by challenging a two-time defending state champion for district supremacy, Rippl’s only option was to trust his teammates.
Thus far, the results speak for themselves as SFCA sits at 18-4 and can match its school-record win total set in 2017 with a win over Lake Placid on Monday. Meanwhile, Rippl has become one the most lethal hitters and toughest outs in Lee County as well as one of its top starting pitchers.
King’s coach JW Wilkerson urged Rippl to embrace the team’s motto to “be different”, or, in Rippl’s case, try something different. Lean on the players around him the same way they lean on him.
“Over the course of the season, everyone is going to get a moment,” Wilkerson said. “It’s not always going to be yours.”
Rippl, a Kent State signee, hit .328 last season with five home runs and 16 RBI while going 2-1 on the mound with a 1.11 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 2017. But SFCA was bounced in the District 3A-6 semifinals in an 11-0 loss to Class 3A state champion Canterbury, a club that outscored it 31-0 over three games.
Going into this season, trying to beat the Cougars by himself wasn’t an option. He matured a lot in the offseason and developed a better understanding of the game.
Rippl couldn’t allow himself to fear taking a walk and then be stranded on the base paths. There are more ways to have productive at-bats then extra-base hits.
“I had to change my mindset,” Rippl said. “I became more relaxed. I go in there and be me.”
Of his over 50 plate appearances this season, over 70 percent were quality at-bats. His trust has paid dividends with the team hitting over .350 and the players directly behind him in the order batting over .400.
Rippl’s numbers have skyrocketed with his average jumping nearly 200 points and his power numbers on the upswing. He has seven homers and 33 RBI in 22 games.
Wilkerson stressed the importance of pitch selection. Rippl limited the location of pitches he’ll swing at with less than two strikes to three zones.
“Max needs to be attacking pitchers rather than the pitcher attacking him,” Wilkerson said.
Rippl admits he’s one of the more superstitious players you’ll find. And it rubbed off on his teammates.
Rippl started the season by eating a Trolli gummy worm before every at-bat. His teammates followed suit as SFCA began the season with an offensive explosion and an 8-game winning streak.
“Now everyone on the team is doing it,” Rippl said. “You have some guys eating original (flavor). Some guys hit better with berry. Some guys like the octopus kind.”
With a fastball between 90 and 93 miles per hour and good movement on his curveball, 2-seam fastball and changeup, Rippl is 6-2 with an ERA under two runs and 77 strikeouts.
His best game came against district foe Evangelical Christian where he outdueled Florida signee Ben Specht with a 2-hitter with 16 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in a 3-0 win on April 6.
Canterbury completed a regular-season sweep of SFCA with a 13-2 win on Friday.
Rippl said the club expects to push the Cougars to their limit in the postseason.
“We’ve talked about it a lot,” Rippl said. “We had one goal going into this season and that was to beat Canterbury.”
Wilkerson is taking a realistic approach to facing Canterbury. The expectation is the King’s will get two more shots at the Cougars in a district final in a few weeks and a regional final.
“The goal is to hang around for six innings and have a chance to win it in the seventh,” Wilkerson said.
Rippl trusts his teammates will get the job done. They have a “sacred” bag of unopened gummy worms that sits in the dugout for each game.
When will they crack it open?
“After we win a state championship,” Rippl said.