Last week’s rival baseball game between Brighton and Prairie View ended with Brighton on top 2-1. Brighton has extended their overall record to 11-6, while Prairie View is 11-4-1.
“The Brighton game was what this city is all about,” said Caleb Dameron, PVHS center fielder. “High school baseball should be all about playing under the lights in front of the whole city and all about your fans. The atmosphere is a whole other level, and brings out things in players that haven’t been seen before.
“Both teams have so much heart and talent. My team has gone through some hang-ups, but that hasn’t let us up one bit. I know we’ll look back on that game and grow on it to make us a better team come playoffs. The scariest thing about our team … we’re not near to playing to our fullest ability,” Dameron said.
Dameron said he knows his team will make some noise the end of the year, and his team isn’t finished yet.
He’s been playing baseball since the T-ball days, back when he started to walk.
“There’s never been a summer without it being filled with baseball,” he said. “I took a year or so off from baseball when I moved to Colorado, and when I was playing football. A baseball coach (Kevin Blount) a parent from another team asked me to play for his baseball team that summer in the Brighton area. I played baseball with him until high school, and he’s the main reason of where I’m at today. He helped motivate and teach me things that have helped both on and off the field.”
“Center field has been my home all four years on the varsity level, and all through little league,” Dameron said, adding that he’s always been the fastest kid on the field. “That’s just where I belong.”
He said this season the team has a very different mentality.
“We’re among ‘family,’ and we strive for nothing, but the best,” Dameron said. “Every player had put in the work all off season long and all season they’ve all had the attitude and mindset to push themselves to be the best they can be.”
As a captain of the team and a leader at PVHS, Dameron said it’s his goal to change the mentality this year in everything the team does and so far it’s shown.
Dameron played football until his sophomore year in high school.
“I was always a running back,” he said. “I also kick returned and was a punt returner. Once again, I always was the fastest on the field. I used to think football would be my favorite sport, until I made varsity baseball as a freshman. I knew baseball was my calling, so I quit football to focus on it. I’m still hassled to this day to keep playing football. Baseball is a game within a game and the easiest game to fall in love with. I love every aspect of baseball from the grind to the games every step is all one focus to be successful in baseball and I love every bit of it.”
The high school senior is a three year all-state and all-conference academic, and going for his fourth year this season. He made center field all-conference his sophomore and junior year. He received the Thunderhawk Award and is a Triple Crown national champion, a four year varsity letterman and has a batting average of over .400 with 15-plus stolen bases each year. He’s only had two errors during his high school career from center field.
“Baseball is my life,” Dameron said. “I do everything for God’s glory. He’s the one who provides me with all my strength and success. I owe it ALL to him. God has blessed me with so much and so many amazing things and people around me. My family and friends are more than I could ever ask for and are nothing, but the best. I live for this sport and these people. Your talent is God’s gift to you, what you do with it is your gift back to God.”
Dameron will play baseball at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling next year. He plans to study business/computer technology and move into a four year college after he finishes his first two years of school. He wants to also continue playing baseball at the university level in the future.
Prairie View hosts Adams City Thursday, while Brighton plays at Thornton. Both games start at 4 p.m.