Casey Vining loves the sport of baseball. The current Aberdeen Smittys player has been passionate about it and has embraced the sport ever since he was introduced to it.

“I just like the game. I kind of just loved it ever since I was like a young age,” Vining said. “My parent’s kind of introduced it to me and that was the right sport for me and that’s where I want to go with my future and have fun with it.”

Vining has certainly had fun this season playing for the Smittys. He says he enjoys spending time with his teammates at the ballpark no matter what the occasion.

“I like coming to the ballfield every day, just seeing my teammates and friends,” Vining said. “We always get to hang out with each other every day, whether it’s practice or a game, just seeing the whole group hang out.”

All that bonding time together has built a lot of team chemistry that has translated to the field, which Vining attributes to him and his teammates being around the same age.

“We’re all kind of about the same age. We have two super seniors this year and then we have a sophomore, who’s now going to be a junior,” Vining said. “We’ve all played with each other in the past when I used to play (for Under 10 coach) Jay Kusler, and we’ve always just had that special bond even though we’ve been split up years before with being on different teams and age groups.”

Vining also said the team has been split up due to players being from different schools. The team consists of players participating from Roncalli and Central high schools, as well as college students.

Vining is one of the leading motivators on the team, and he takes pride in cheering on his teammates.

“(I) like to be one of the top guys on the team and just have fun and motivate my teammates,” Vining said. “Even if I’m down on myself, I’ve gotta help motivate my other teammates to be successful. I think we’ve done a really good job of picking each other up.”

Vining and his teammates have motivated each other this season through mottos that have helped keep the team focused. The first motto is ‘Series 0 and 0.’

“We kind of started that last year going down to Mitchell with the playoff game,” Vining said. “The regular season doesn’t matter; the record doesn’t matter. We’re here to play baseball. Anything can happen.”

Vining said that has been the team’s mindset entering every contest, however, the team has another motto that it uses either before or during each game.

“We’ve also started something called ‘New pitcher, get on them early,’” Vining said. “So, every time a new pitcher comes out or we start a new game, ‘Why haven’t we scored yet?’ We just like to have that mentality and that we want to score first and just keep our foot on the gas pedal all game long.”

While Vining has helped the Smittys to a current 13-7 record, he also has responsibilities off the field as well. Vining is currently working at the Youth Development Center (YDC) in Aberdeen, which he says gives him the opportunity to work with kids before he heads to college at Northern State University, where he will be studying elementary education, as well as playing baseball.

He also enjoys spending time with friends and family. Vining says he has to balance out his baseball schedule with the rest of his life.

“This goes back to last year, especially playing on the Legion team, Brandon (Kusler) wanted to start practice at 10:30, kind of have a cool morning so it’s not so hot,” Vining said. “So, I started working a split shift (at the YDC). I call it a day at six (o’clock) and then if I have anything going on with umpiring, going and hanging out with my friends, spending time with family, playing catch with my brother, just having those last few hours of the day there to spend with other people.”

A recent graduate of Aberdeen Central High School, Vining also participated on the Central football team. Vining was a two-year starter on the Golden Eagles defensive line, and while he enjoyed his time on the gridiron, one of his favorite memories in sports came on the baseball diamond.

“I’d probably have to say the first time we won a state championship. We won in U10,” Vining said. “Going into my sixth-grade year a lot of us were a part of that team with Jay (Kusler) and we kind of just cherished the moment. We just had success playing baseball. That’s kind of stuck with me.”

Vining hopes to add more memories to his baseball career as he and the Smittys look to accomplish several goals before season’s end.

“We’d like to be able to host regions this year at Fossum. It hasn’t been done in a while. I don’t think we’ve also made the state tournament since Brandon (Kusler) has played back in 2017, his final year. So those are some of our goals as a team,” Vining said.