Win or lose, Bucklin coach takes pride in his team

 Win or lose, Bucklin High baseball coach Scott Krominga is always proud of his boys.
    The Bucklin Red Aces, in their bright scarlet uniforms, seated third in the regional playoffs Tuesday at Spearville’s Greenstreet Park. With eight wins and eight losses, they faced the Spearville Royal Lancers, with their nine wins and nine losses. 
    The blue-clad Lancers beat the Red Aces 11-1 in six innings and went on to win the regional playoffs Tuesday by bashing Minneola 12-2 in five innings.
    The Spearville girls softball team qualified for first place Tuesday at regional playoffs at Wilson High School.
    Krominga teaches science, chemistry and physics at Spearville Junior and High Schools. He lives in Spearville and has coached the Red Aces for the past year.
    A former coach in Walsenburg, Colo., Krominga has been umpiring for 22 years. He grew up in Greeley, Colo., and played 100 games a year in a junior high league.
    “I absolutely loved it!” he said.
    “It wasn’t really difficult getting back into coaching,” he said. “Baseball is baseball. I tell the team there are four aspects to the game: throwing, running, catching, and hitting.”
    Actually, he added, there is a fifth aspect: attitude.
    “If you match a team like ours that has eight wins with a team like Spearville’s Royal Lancers that has nine wins, the winner will be the team that makes the least mistakes and feels the most positive about what they are going to do,” he said.
    The Red Aces were rained out on their doubleheader with Satanta, “and we couldn’t find a date to reschedule,” Krominga said, explaining why the Spearville team had one more game under its belt than Bucklin.
    Minneola defeated Sublette 15-4 in a five-inning game that started at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the regional playoffs in Spearville. Minneola then faced Spearville, the winner of the 4:30 p.m. game against Bucklin.
    “There’s a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain today, and with all the wind, it’s not going to be a good day to play baseball,” Krominga predicted before the games. 
    It didn’t rain on the three games, and players managed eight home runs despite the high winds. But foul balls were flying like frightened birds out of the park — and excited kids were chasing balls down the street outside the park. 
    “I’ve been lucky this year with the Bucklin team,” Krominga said. “We haven’t been hit by the injury bug. We haven’t had any major injuries, only a couple of pulled muscles. Arm-wise, I’ve tried not to overuse the boys.”
    Next year doesn’t look so good. Out of his 15 players, 10 are graduating, a death blow to most any high school team.
    “We are losing a lot of experience and leaders at the end of the year,” Krominga said. “I’m losing four of my five pitchers. I will have only five guys coming back next year and only one experienced pitcher, a lone sophomore. 
    “My whole infield is graduating! You have to have infielders to control the game. These guys are good talent, good solid players. It’s going to be tough to replace them, and it will take two years to do it. Yes, we will be hurting for bodies next year.”
    The Bucklin team will have several eighth-graders coming up next year, “but they will need a lot of instruction,” Krominga said. “There’s a lot of pressure in that.”
    Krominga was pleased that he had “several of my Bucklin parents at the games in Spearville Tuesday.” 
    Although Spearville and Bucklin came to the Tuesday games with the same winning percentages, “The record means nothing at this point and time in the season,” Krominga said. “To win the state championship, we have to win 5-0, two games on Tuesday and three in Emporia.”
    Five of the Bucklin team’s first six hitters — Kelton Taggert, Reggan Sellard, Michael Scott, Craig Schmidt and Jon Stout — have an on-base percentage of 455 or better. Schmidt has a batting average of 556, Scott has 432, and Stout has 426. Scott pitched a shutout against Sublette and a no-hitter against Haviland.
    "We have some kids at Bucklin who are going to make All-Conference,” he said. “There are some good athletes around here, and these kids need to be recognized.”
    The Bucklin and Spearville teams lined up to shake hands following their afternoon game. And as Krominga walked off the field after his team’s defeat, he said, “I’m going to stay and root for the boys in blue.”