Hershberger Excited to Join Street Kids Team
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South Bend, IN 11/22/08
The Street Kids/Suburban South softball team improved their 2009
roster dramatically when free agent Mark Hershberger committed to play
with the SKS team in 2009.
Hershberger, who was a key member of the 2008 national champions
Team Worth, spent two weeks mulling over the decision to leave a team
full of his friends, but ultimately felt the SKS team was going in the right
direction.
"This was not an easy decision," the 6'5" first baseman and pitcher said.
"When you win a national title with a team, you grow close. I think the world of the guys on Team Worth and
consider them my friends. But this is a new chapter in my life and I am looking forward to playing with Street
Kids in 2009."
Hershberger was asked what made his decision final to come to SKS, and he said it came down to a change.
"Its hard for a guy to leave a team that wins a national title and say you are looking to improve," the 11-year
veteran said. "But the things that this team (SKS) does off the field, coupled with the way they are building to
win on the field made the decision for me. TJ (Jorgensen) and I talked at great length about the possibilities of
me coming to this team and he made me feel appreciated. I spoke to several players on the Street Kids team
and they were all telling me I needed to come be part of something special."
Street Kids manager TJ Jorgensen has made it no secret he is doing what it takes to improve a team that was
unable to win a major tournament in 2008.
"We had a good year for sure," said Jorgensen on Saturday. "You don't win 138 games by having a bad
season. But I knew for us to compete in 2009 we needed to build this team to be stronger and faster.
Bringing in Kalei (Enterline) a couple of weeks ago, resigning Lanny (Fisher) and now signing a huge
offensive presence in Mark, I feel have the right people in place moving forward. In the next couple of days,
we will announce some more changes to this team to make us even stronger."
Last month, the message boards wrote off the Street Kids team for 2009, saying that they would lose all of
their top players, including Fisher, new MVP Jake Underwood, and gold glove winner Chris Firebaugh. At
this time, Fisher has already committed and Underwood and Firebaugh are "95% committed" to the team.
"It's easy for anyone to say they don't pay attention to the message boards, but at the same time, there is
always an element of truth to them," Fisher said recently. "People will gossip, they will talk trash and they will
throw slanderous things at us. Its our job to ignore them or better yet, use them as fuel to get better."
Mark is an accomplished ball player with a slew of awards to his credit, including all tournament selections
from three major post season events (state, regional and world championships). He is looking forward to
doing his part to help this team earn a title.
"Street Kids had a great team in 2008," he added. "But just like Team Worth and the national title, 2008 is
over. Its now time to focus on 2009 and this team has the make up to be one of the best around."
In the next couple of days, Jorgensen will be making more announcements, including the addition of another
free agent, one of the most versatile players in the sport.
The Street Kids/Suburban South softball team improved their 2009
roster dramatically when free agent Mark Hershberger committed to play
with the SKS team in 2009.
Hershberger, who was a key member of the 2008 national champions
Team Worth, spent two weeks mulling over the decision to leave a team
full of his friends, but ultimately felt the SKS team was going in the right
direction.
"This was not an easy decision," the 6'5" first baseman and pitcher said.
"When you win a national title with a team, you grow close. I think the world of the guys on Team Worth and
consider them my friends. But this is a new chapter in my life and I am looking forward to playing with Street
Kids in 2009."
Hershberger was asked what made his decision final to come to SKS, and he said it came down to a change.
"Its hard for a guy to leave a team that wins a national title and say you are looking to improve," the 11-year
veteran said. "But the things that this team (SKS) does off the field, coupled with the way they are building to
win on the field made the decision for me. TJ (Jorgensen) and I talked at great length about the possibilities of
me coming to this team and he made me feel appreciated. I spoke to several players on the Street Kids team
and they were all telling me I needed to come be part of something special."
Street Kids manager TJ Jorgensen has made it no secret he is doing what it takes to improve a team that was
unable to win a major tournament in 2008.
"We had a good year for sure," said Jorgensen on Saturday. "You don't win 138 games by having a bad
season. But I knew for us to compete in 2009 we needed to build this team to be stronger and faster.
Bringing in Kalei (Enterline) a couple of weeks ago, resigning Lanny (Fisher) and now signing a huge
offensive presence in Mark, I feel have the right people in place moving forward. In the next couple of days,
we will announce some more changes to this team to make us even stronger."
Last month, the message boards wrote off the Street Kids team for 2009, saying that they would lose all of
their top players, including Fisher, new MVP Jake Underwood, and gold glove winner Chris Firebaugh. At
this time, Fisher has already committed and Underwood and Firebaugh are "95% committed" to the team.
"It's easy for anyone to say they don't pay attention to the message boards, but at the same time, there is
always an element of truth to them," Fisher said recently. "People will gossip, they will talk trash and they will
throw slanderous things at us. Its our job to ignore them or better yet, use them as fuel to get better."
Mark is an accomplished ball player with a slew of awards to his credit, including all tournament selections
from three major post season events (state, regional and world championships). He is looking forward to
doing his part to help this team earn a title.
"Street Kids had a great team in 2008," he added. "But just like Team Worth and the national title, 2008 is
over. Its now time to focus on 2009 and this team has the make up to be one of the best around."
In the next couple of days, Jorgensen will be making more announcements, including the addition of another
free agent, one of the most versatile players in the sport.