LIFELONG PASSIONS - Seymour Tribune

July 6, 2015

For The Tribune

BROWNSTOWN

ports were a big part of Collin DeHart’s experience at Brownstown Central High School.

He started playing basketball and baseball at a young age and continued playing all through high school.

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Growing up watching his older brother, Trey, play sports inspired him to get involved, he said.

“I watched everything about the way he played, his effort,” Collin DeHart said of his brother. “Everything he did, I tried to emulate it as much as I could and be a leader like him.”

Both brothers were point guards in basketball and infielders in baseball.

On the diamond, Trey played second base, while Collin played shortstop his junior year before switching to second base this past spring because of an arm injury.

“It was actually a little different,” Collin DeHart said. “I didn’t think it would be much of a difference, but the ball actually comes off the bat a little different. When you’re turning two from that side, everything is just a little different, but I got used to it, and I learned a few things. I made a couple mistakes, but I learned from them. The shorter throws were nice. All I had to worry about was keeping the ball in front of me and making that short throw.”

Collin took pride in defense.

“I loved that part of it, all the dirty work,” he said. “On almost every single pitch, I have to be talking to the shortstop, especially if there is a runner on, who is going to take the bag. I try to let the outfielders know how many outs, if they get a ball what we’re going to do. Any time a ball is hit between me and the right fielder, the talking is really important.”

Offensively, Collin led off for the Braves his sophomore year, bat second as a junior and returned to the top spot this year.

“I liked the challenge of being the first one to go up to bat and trying to start the game off right,” he said. “If I don’t start the game off right, that can affect how the rest of the game goes. If I start the game off right, same thing, it can affect how the rest of the game goes.”

Collin said he didn’t try to do too much with a pitch. He focused on hitting the ball down one of the lines.

“A lot of times, I’ll see a fastball because they want to start off throwing a strike,” he said. “The really good pitchers, every once in a while, they’ll throw curveball, they’ll throw change-up or something to make everybody start thinking.”

Collin said he hit his first varsity home run this year in a game against Henryville.

On the basketball court, Collin said he communicated with coach Dave Benter when it came to calling plays on offense.

“A lot of times, it’s coach Benter and me working together, what’s been working throughout the game,” he said. “He gave me the freedom to call plays. Every once in a while, if I see something that was working, he let me call something. I pretty much looked for the mismatches or who had it going. I tried to get it to the person who had the best chance to score in that possession.”

DeHart said he liked his leadership role.

“I wanted to be someone everybody would look up to,” he said. “If something was going on, they could come to me and talk to me. If we got it fixed, everything would be good from there.”

He also had the opportunity to have his father, Mark DeHart, as a coach on the court. He serves as the varsity assistant coach.

“I actually liked it a lot,” Collin said. “One thing I liked about him is knowing the only way he was going to be upset with me is if I had a bad attitude. If I had a bad game on the court, he’s going to get onto me about that, but I don’t have to worry about going home and having him rip me at home. He takes class in having a good attitude very important. With him and my brother, it’s really helped me out a lot.”

During Collin’s high school career, Brownstown moved from Class 2A to Class 3A in both sports. He said that provided a good challenge.

“We’re one of the smallest 3A schools, especially in our sectional,” he said. “It’s good competition for us. The last couple years in basketball, we’ve struggled. But my freshman and sophomore years, we won. That was a great feeling winning the (basketball) sectional in front of everybody and celebrating.”

To be ready for those challenges, Collin said, it required everyone to be serious when it came to practices.

“The old saying goes ‘Practice makes perfect,’ and that’s true,” he said. “If you don’t practice the way you should, you’re not going to get much out of it, so it’s very important.”

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Name: Collin DeHart

School: Brownstown Central High School

Family: Parents, Mark and Sharon DeHart; brother, Trey

Sports: Baseball, four years; basketball, four years

Athletics honors: In basketball, three Mid-Southern Conference championships, mental attitude award, defensive award; in baseball, mental attitude award twice

Home basketball games: “There’s absolutely nothing like it. You go to away games, and we have more fans than they did. It’s nice knowing you’re going to have more fans every single time. There’s nothing like the roar of the crowd here.”

Favorite away gym: “Seymour, mainly because of the rivalry. It’s one of the best gyms in Indiana.”

Favorite away baseball field: “Floyd Central is pretty nice.”

Attending BCHS: “I’ve enjoyed it. With my parents having worked here, I came over here every single day after school, and I’ve gotten to know everyone here. The whole school is just a big family. It’s pretty nice. Everybody is supporting everybody. I’ll remember all the friends I made, and not only the games I played in, but the times I went and supported my friends. It’s a great memory to have.”

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