The Adel-DeSoto-Minburn Baseball team was close to qualifying for the state tournament, but fell short to North Polk and Head Coach Jason Book discusses the growth he witnessed from his team during the year.

Book points out that there were questions coming into the season with some upperclassmen that decided not to return to the field who played last year. Despite that, he explains that a lot of the freshmen on the team picked up playing opportunities to make an impact with players including Jack Siefken, Ben Plaisance, Cole Waddingham, Hudson Lewerke, and others. Book talks about his approach with handling coaching the younger players to prime them for several moments throughout the year.

“Just getting them to feel a little bit more comfortable on the field. You could tell by our play that they did become more comfortable, we started playing better by the end of the season and there wasn’t much that we could do to make ourselves better than what we were at that point. Everybody played with confidence, everybody was playing for each other.”

Book notes that it takes a total team effort whether guys are contributing out on the field or in the dugout. He gathered that once all the players knew their role on the team, the Tigers began to gel well.

ADM finished the 2024 season with a 16-15 overall record, third in the Raccoon River Conference at 9-7.