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Sports

Spartans' Catcher Enjoys Challenges of the Game

St. Peters native Jonny Langford never played baseball in high school, but he kept his career going with Legion team.

Although the Central Spartans Legion baseball team had little to cheer about after Tuesday’s contest against Washington Post 218, catcher Jonny Langford managed a small amount of success.

Langford was one of three Central players who earned a hit off of Post 218’s Tyler Seim in the 15-0 loss. Langford singled in the second inning. After the hit in the second, the Spartan’s bats remained silent until the seventh inning when Tyler Vaught and Andrew Maxey both singled. Langford found his way to the base path two times in three  at bats, as he field out in the fifth and advanced to first in the seventh after being struck by a Seim pitch.

“I just go out and try to make contact,” Langford said on hitting. “There’s nothing really special about it.”

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Although the Spartans’ Tuesday loss was very lopsided, the team is just one game below .500 as they fell to 4-5 after the contest. Langford said his team needs to approach each game with more intensity and seriousness. He also said his team had made progress in both departments since the beginning of the season.  

Langford—a resident of St. Peters—graduated from Francis Howell Central in the spring. The catcher didn’t play baseball in high school. Instead, he chose to concentrate on football and track and field. Langford started playing baseball at five years of age and he didn’t want to give up the sport so he remained active in American Legion baseball in the summer. 

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Langford played defensive end and middle linebacker for Howell Central. He played football for four years and spent the last three years at the varsity level. Langford threw discus on the track and field team.   

“My football career was a lot of fun,” he said. “I had a blast. I really love contact sports like football.”

Playing catcher on an American Legion baseball team requires physical and mental toughness, just like a contact sport. Legion games sometimes last nine innings while high school games are almost always seven innings, aside from extra inning games.

“I think its just about getting through all nine (innings),” he said. “You have to mentally get through the game and not let your emotions show.”

Langford said he enjoys calling the pitches for the Spartan’s various pitchers.

“I like getting people with the high-speed fastball,” he said. “It’s fun letting them have a few off-speed pitches and then hitting them with the fastball.” 

Langford is considering walking onto the football team next year at William Penn, a NAIA school in Oskaloosa, IA.

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