Strawberry Crest Chargers

By Victoria Shawgo

“Appreciate and Celebrate.” This is the motto the Strawberry Crest Chargers carried with them throughout their 2023 season. Ending with a 17-8 record and graduating a solid group of 10 seniors, the team had much to appreciate and celebrate this year.

“The guys went out and worked hard every day,” shared Coach Eric Beattie, who has led the Chargers since the team’s inception in 2009.

“We won a lot of games,” he continued. “Our margin was really high. We scored as many runs this year as we’ve ever scored in the past. I feel like the guys got better as the year went on, so overall, I would say it was a good year.”

Senior Luke Richardson agrees.

“I thought the whole season was great because we had so many seniors who we’ve always played with and against our whole lives,” he explained.

Richardson grew up playing in and around Plant City and pitches for the Chargers. Recently, he was given the opportunity to play in the Hillsborough All-Star Game against Pinellas and on the All-Western Conference National Division First Team.

“He had a really good year,” remarked Coach Beattie, “He continually got better every season and ended up pitching in our biggest games down the stretch and kept us in all of them.”

Another senior who has been soaking up the spotlight is short-stop Arjun Nimmala. Nimmala was named the 2023 recipient of the Wade Boggs Athletic Achievement Award and is expected to be selected in the first round of this summer’s MLB draft.

According to Coach Beattie, “Arjun Nimmala was one of the best players in the state and in the country this year. He had 6 or 7 home runs, about 9 or 10 doubles, three triples, and only two errors in the season which is incredible as a shortstop.”

With the departure of Nimmala, Richardson, and the other eight seniors on the team, the Chargers are looking at a whole new ballgame when next season rolls around.

“It’ll be a rebuilding season next season,” predicts Coach Beattie, “But we’ve got some good young kids who are great players and hard workers, and they love to win; they’re really competitive.”

No one could lead them better than Beattie, who grew up in the area but played professionally with both the Tigers and the Red Sox before stepping into his coaching role.

“My philosophy comes down to developing the H.I.P.P., which is the Human, the Impact, the Preparation, and their Performance, so that kind of grounds every decision that I make as a coach,” he explained.

It will be this philosophy that paves the way for future Chargers to meet success on the field.