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Tournaments  | Story  | 7/22/2023

Scorpions Building On & Off Field

Riley Sheppard     
Photo: Lamar Edwards (Perfect Game)
Over the past three decades, Scorpions Baseball has established itself as a landing spot for some of the most talented players nationwide. 

“Obviously there's a long line of history,” Scorpions general manager Johnny Goodrich said. “I think every person involved is appreciative of Sal Lombardo for having the vision…to go ahead and do something that nobody else is doing in the state. And now that we've got [Robert Rikeman] as the owner of it I think the program has only gotten stronger."



“[Rikeman] sends a great message to us and wants us to do the right things in the right ways and get the right people involved. He's got our backs so it makes it easy to go out there and find not only great players, but the right fit.”

With 10 separate high school teams, the iconic purple Scorpion uniform has become one of the most recognizable brand across the baseball landscape. 

However, the Orlando, Florida, based organization is focused on the bigger picture when building their players into better individuals on and off the field. 

“It really changed my life,” Lamar Edwards said. “After my first summer with the most committed in that fall… I want to be a professional baseball player, so being able to play next to high class talent like this, it just helps me out so much for my character and my skills on baseball fields.

“I was always like a quieter guy who didn't want to talk to many people. But as soon as I came over here, the family, the brotherhood, it kind of brought my personality out more, and that's gonna help me in the long run. I'm gonna have to talk to a lot of people and talk in front of a lot of people, so it helped me a ton.”

Despite reaching Friday’s quarterfinals at 16U PG World Series, the Scorpions wasted no time heading down to Fort Myers for this week's BCS National Championship. 

And while staying busy over the past few months has been a common theme for the No. 21 ranked team in the nation, that level of intensity is preparing those guys eventually suiting up at the next level. 

“It's been a long hot summer,” Goodrich said. “I think this is probably the hottest summer that I've had in the 16 years of travel baseball that I've been around. So your body breaks down, you got to take care of it. A lot of these guys we expect to possibly play professional baseball, so it's a taste of what it's going to be like.”

But through those long and blistering days, the Scorpions players have learned to lean on their teammates as support - even those playing in their first season for the team. 

“We've made a family where we all care about each other and we play together,” first-year Scorpions player Ayden Phillips said. “It's a much better experience than going off and just playing with a bunch of people you don’t know.

“I was a very frustrated baseball player before, but since I've been here I just learned how to play the right way. Ethan Holliday, I'll tell you this, I've never seen anybody make an error and just be so down to earth about it and that's taken a toll on me and helped me learn a lot about how to take controversy.”

Since 1994, the Scorpions have founded 10 high school teams in Florida, with its proven track record helping branch out to four more outside of the state. 

But even with a decorated résumé of titles, college commitments and MLB players, the organization will always place the development of their players into great men above it all. 

“For me, if I'm going to make a mistake, I don't want to make a mistake on the character side,” Goodrich said. “I can live with not having the greatest players in the world, but when you sit in the dugout, you want to be able to create long bonding relationships and you want these guys to be able to create long bonding relationships that last a lifetime, and for me athletics does that.”

“Regardless if it's in baseball, it's life, if it's family, everything we do we've got to put our best effort in. So when I'm with my family I want these guys to understand, I want you to be the best family person that you can be…And if we can create young men, these are going to be leaders in society.”
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