Reds Opening Day checklist: Absolutely everything to know before the first pitch ⚾✔️
HIGH SCHOOL-KENTUCKY

Beards have brought Conner baseball team closer

Rick Broering

Following a pair of uninspired one-run wins over St. Henry and Lloyd in mid-May that were preceded by a 13-7 loss to CovCath, Conner coach Brad Arlinghaus could sense that the pressure was starting to mount inside his dugout. So the weekend before the Cougars’ next game, a Monday tilt against Highlands, he tried to get his team to relax by presenting them with T-shirts that read, “Conner Baseball Playoff Beards 2014,” with Arlinghaus’ own bearded face in the center.

Conner wore the shirts for warm-ups that Monday and ended up beating Highlands 2-0; thus the Cougars’ “fear the beard” rallying cry was born. The Cougars have played relaxed ever since, putting together a 10-game win streak that includes a 33rd District championship and a Ninth Region title.

Thursday they’ll try to notch their 11th in a row when they take on North Bullitt at Whitaker Bank Ballpark in Lexington at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the state tournament.

“It was like a pressure cooker with us,” Arlinghaus said. “We were looking like we were about to explode or bust apart at the seams. That Friday before we played Highlands I busted the shirts out and said, ‘You guys can wear them if you want, or don’t wear them. I’m just trying to get you to be loose and go back to having fun like you did earlier in the season.’ They said they’d try it out for the Highlands game and they haven’t taken them off since.”

Tuesday, when the Cougars took the infield wearing their T-shirts for their first-round game against Boyd County, they were joined by a small sea of white T-shirts in the stands with Arlinghaus’ face on them. Conner played loose once again and cruised to a 12-0 win. The demand for the T-shirts became big enough that Arlinghaus placed a few more orders and sold them as a fundraiser. So far, about 150 shirts have been sold.

“It’s just something that we can all talk about and have fun with,” said senior shortstop Jared Williams. “When he first showed them to us, I was like, ‘Wow, did he really just spend his money on these shirts for us?’ And now, everybody wants one. It’s sweet. It’s a really cool thing.”

The idea to start using unique facial hair, or just hair in general, as a symbol of team unity started in the preseason, according to Williams. From there it just continued to evolve, at least, until necessary evils like prom got in the way.

“It kind of started in conditioning,” said Williams. “We were just screwing around with our facial hair and experimenting with what looked cool. It just kept going from there. I had grown mine out, but my mom made me shave it for prom. I’ve got it growing back out now.

“I think it just keeps everybody relaxed out on the field. It just reminds us to have fun and I think that helps us play better. ... There’s always somebody there to pick you up, and that’s what our team is all about. “

While the “fear the beard” rallying cry, which even has its own hashtag on twitter, has caught on, Arlinghaus says the real secret to his team’s success has been a special group of kids.

“It’s these kids’ personalities,” Arlinghaus said after Tuesday’s win. “Something about this “fear the beard,” thing they’ve latched onto, and it keeps them relaxed. They’ve embraced it with their hair. We’ve got ‘long hair don’t care’ Blaise Ostertag, a rats tail, half mohawks – it’s the kids’ personalities that have made it work.”

“I think it goes a long way towards the way our kids are playing. Once you’re loose, there’s no pressure when you go up there with two outs. This was the biggest game of their lives and we had four RBIs with two outs.”

Junior Blaise Ostertag, whose signature long, blonde hair has inspired some of the most fervent Conner fans to wear blonde wigs underneath their ballcaps to games during the postseason, will likely start on the mound Thursday, according to Arlinghaus. While this is admittedly the biggest stage he’s ever played on, Ostertag says he’s more excited than he is nervous.

“Just being here is an honor and getting to pitch in the quarterfinals of the state tournament is going to be an even better feeling,” said Ostertag.”The loose feel helps us play well. We’ve kept it going all year and it’s worked, so we just keep it going.”

In addition to Ostertag, Arlinghaus said his pitching staff should have all hands on deck for the most part, including potentially Cameron Ross after he started and threw just four innings in Tuesday’s win with a day of rest in between.

“We’ll start with Blaise probably on Thursday,” said Arlinghaus. “We’ve got Nick Craddock still available, Ryan Gosney is available, and possibly Cam in a pinch. We could even throw Blake Hart again. I’ve got confidence in all five of those guys. Fear the beard.”