For this Cottonwood Colts baseball team, it has already been a trying year. 

First, coaches and players alike on the Colts lost a friend that they played club ball with and against in Jordan High freshman Kian Hamilton, who was slain in the summer of 2024. Then, reality hit even closer to home when the longtime and recently retired Cottonwood Athletic Director Greg Southwick passed away in January. 

Southwick was an ardent supporter of Cottonwood baseball, and he didn’t miss many of the Colts’ home and away games if he could help it. He was also the primary reason that head coach Travis Steed is now in charge of this Colts program and why the school honored Hamilton by hosting a tournament in his memory at Cottonwood’s baseball field. 

That happened in August, and so for this loaded roster led by five seniors, these Colts have already had a bit of a head start having played a handful of games at the outset of the new school year against other area schools. The memorial tournament also helped raise proceeds for a foundation that Hamilton’s family had set up in his name. 

The other person responsible for making that tournament go? Steed himself. 

It must be said that Southwick told City Journals at the time of Steed’s hiring that it took a few years of convincing to get the new Cottonwood coach and longtime teacher at the school to accept in 2024—after the previous coach had stepped down. Steed accepted, and he, along with assistants Gil Ruiz and Rafael Mavarez, led Cottonwood to a 15-10 record in his first year.

In a way, it was fitting that one of Southwick’s final acts at Cottonwood was to assist a fallen student-athlete, and to have Steed—one of Southwick’s final coaching hires in his time here—lend a big hand in that. 

Coach Steed now also works under a new athletic director in James MacIntyre, but the aim is the same as the reason Southwick hired Steed—get Cottonwood baseball back to prominence in a Class 4A Region 10 that is fraught with tough competition. The Colts added to their staff as well, hiring nine-year Major League Baseball vet George Sherrill as a pitching coach during the offseason. 

Last year, the Colts finished a respectable 9-6 in a region filled with schools such as Park City, who won the title with a 14-1 record, and a Juan Diego Catholic team that finished one game ahead of Cottonwood. This year, however, the UHSAA has added four other schools to Class 4A Region 10 in this latest round of realignment: Murray, East, Highland and Judge Memorial Catholic. 

Park City is the favorite to win once again, followed by Juan Diego and Murray, according to local media. But, the Colts are tabbed by to finish fourth, right in the middle of the pack. 

That might be just about right for a Colts team returning 11 rotation players including seniors Zeland Carpepnter, Milo Crayk (5-2 as a pitcher in nine appearances, 42 strikeouts), Zane Wayman (4-2, eight games, 26 K), Porter Stonebreaker (.444 batting average) and Kingston Griffin who hit 12 RBI last year. It’s enough experience for the Colts to go out there and surprise some teams. 

Cottonwood also has a handful of underclassmen that are versatile at the plate and have shown they have trusty gloves. Junior Joaquin Reymus hit .265 with 12 RBI in 49 plate appearances last season, and his classmate Noble Weaver had four stolen bases to go with a .970 fielding percentage in 2024-25. Other players returning to the Colts that had their moments include juniors MJ Diemoz, Peyton Ruiz, Peyson Summers and Quinn Mendenhall. Sophomore Zachary Kitt has cracked the varsity starting lineup—to do so on this junior-and-senior laden team.

One difference between last year and this, is that Cottonwood will not be traveling to the southern end of the state to play preseason games. The Colts will only go as far as Uintah County to play a weekend game, and will also have eight other preseason games home and away along the Wasatch Front before hitting the field for their Region 10 opener at Highland, March 24.