Summer marks a relatively dead time for most high school sports, but it’s also a season when summer playdates and workouts are crucially important to developing next year’s team.

For RBHS Coach Richard Maggerise, it’s a time when he gets to see what his young talent is capable of.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys coming up,” said Maggerise. The Red Bay Tigers played Hamilton and Florence in games that resulted in very close losses. Several of Maggerise’s younger athletes got the chance to test their skills. “I feel really confident if we were playing a regular season game, we could hold our own against them … Our top three guys on the mound won’t throw this summer hardly at all.

RBHS will take on Hamilton and Florence again this week, followed by playdates against Hackleburg and Haleyville next week. Games with Cherokee and Belgreen fell through because of coaching changes at those schools.

Maggerise will be looking for new shining stars at third base and in the catcher’s position.

“We returned five starters from this year’s team,” he said. “We don’t have to replace a whole lot, but what we do (need to replace) is very important.”

When it comes to young talent, Maggerise also recently inspired a love for baseball in Red Bay’s youngest athletes, holding a youth baseball camp that was attended by 25 children under the age of 11 for three straight days on the diamond.

“It was a great camp,” Maggerise said. “It was fun. I think the kids really learned a lot, and I think the high school boys really enjoyed it too.”

The Tigers are working out three days a week now – and Maggerise is working out with them.

“It’s nonstop. And I made the decision I was going to work out with them at 6 o’clock in the morning, so that’s been a little hard on me,” Maggerise said, laughing. “It sounded better in my head before I started doing it.”