It may be his first season as the head coach for the Juanita baseball team, but Sherman Leach knows the players and how things work. The longtime summer baseball coach finally got his shot at helming the Rebels when the job opened up last year.

“It’s just that job I’ve always had my eye on,” he said, adding his three kids all attended Juanita, so he’s very familiar with the school. With his experience coaching a summer league team, Leach said he’s coached a lot of the players, not only on his team, but from around the league. Leach also served as an assistant for the Rebels several season ago.

“The Juanita guys are a really hard working group,” he said of the Rebels. He said they are competing every day in practice and because the program’s numbers are down this spring, varsity and JV are both getting plenty of experience early on. As with most teams figuring things out, still early in the season, Leach said he’s optimistic about this spring.

“Once we’re at 100 percent, we should compete well,” said the coach. Early in the year, Leach said the team has been focused on pitching and getting some hitting time in when they can, but with the weather forcing them inside it’s been tricky. The coach said they do what they can inside, but nothing beats getting onto the field.

The Rebels have a strong senior class this year said Leach, but not many of them have a ton of varsity experience. However, the coach said, they work really hard and are motivated to make things happen this year.

“It’s a good group of kids,” he said. That competitive nature among the team, along with good team chemistry is something Leach hopes will help the team build throughout the season.

“These guys are willing to do anything,” he said. “I think we’re going to sneak up and bite some people at the end of the season. We just want to get better everyday. We want to sneak into the playoffs at the end.”

Senior returning varsity player Chris Foss said the team is just excited to play, and win this year, hopefully enough to get into the playoffs.

To make that happen the Rebels will have to face off against some of the top teams in not only the 3A league, but a few non-league 4A opponents.

“There are a lot of good teams in this league,” he said. “We’re in a tough conference, so we just want to get better.”

Foss, a short stop and pitcher for the Rebels, said he’s excited that they finally get to play Lake Washington this year as a league opponent.

Leach said a big goal for the coaches this year is to work on getting the younger players involved, hoping to continue to build the program.

“We want to get the young kids having fun and competing so then next year maybe more guys will want to come out,” he said. “We want to work hard and have fun.”

Juanita will face off against Mercer Island on Monday, April 4 in the first KingCo game of the season at Island Crest Park at 6 p.m. The Rebels will face Lake Washington April 11 at Lee Johnson Field, starting at 7 p.m.