The rain may be pouring—and the proverbial old man snoring—but the weather doesn’t put Allan Hancock College’s Chris Berryman out of training.
In fact, for this freshman, it may take a baseball covered with a film of kryptonite to stop him from pitching a good game—like his recent six-inning performance against Moorpark, an outing that resulted in an 11-to-1 Hancock win.
Berryman always had his heart in the realm of sports when he was a child, but when he first gripped the baseball bat and swung for the baseball, he knew the diamond was for him.
“I felt that baseball was easy enough to play, so I stuck with it,” he said. “I’ve stuck with it since then.”
It wasn’t until Berryman’s arm fully developed that he started pitching more often, and, after seventh grade, he transformed into a monster on the mound.
As a sophomore at Lompoc High School, Berryman was on the varsity roster, and he blossomed as a player. As a junior, he was on the All County first-team. During his senior year, he not only repeated the award, but was also named first-team CIF.
“My record is 2-2, so I could be doing better,” Berryman said. “I am doing well, though, since I’m only a freshman that’s a starter pitcher.”
This article appears in Apr 15-22, 2010.