Colby Simmons, baseball
Colby Simmons isn’t much of a talker, as you’ll soon discover.
He is more of a doer, both on the baseball field and in the classroom at Uniontown High School.
Simmons maintains a 4.0 GPA at Uniontown and is a leader on the baseball team, where he is a middle infielder and bats near the top of the Red Raiders lineup.
For all of the above, Simmons is Uniontown’s spring sports male selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. The eldest son of Annette and Thomas Simmons of Markleysburg, Colby has a younger brother, 13-year-old Brady, who is in seventh grade.
“I play shortstop or second base and I pitch a little bit, too,” Simmons said. “I bat somewhere in the top three usually. I’ve been playing baseball since I was 4 or 5, so I guess you could say it’s a passion. I love the game.”
Simmons didn’t hesitate when asked what he likes best about baseball.
“Competition,” he said. “The feeling you get when you do good. Even the moments when you get mad at yourself for doing bad. Competition.”
But Simmons has no visions of grandeur, in terms of playing college baseball. In fact, he has definite plans beyond high school graduation that have nothing to do with traditional college, although studying is in his future. Simmons plans to study to be an electrician, through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
“I worked over the summer with a friend at an electrical site,” Simmons said. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but it seemed like something I’d want to get into.”
But he isn’t quite finished playing his favorite sport, nor does he plan on hanging up his cleats once his senior season ends.
“I might play another year or two of senior American Legion baseball, but that’s about it,” Simmons said. “I play for the Farmington Legion team in the summer.”
Simmons likes both Red Raiders coach Ken Musko and Farmington Legion coach Rodney Frazee.
“I feel I can talk to either one of them about anything,” Simmons said. “Last year, I was having trouble and had to miss a game, so he (Musko) called me aside and we talked about it. Coach Rod, he’s just a nice guy and a good baseball coach.”
Simmons hopes the Red Raiders can qualify for the WPIAL playoffs this year after suffering some late-game woes last year.
“We made the playoffs for the first time in a long time my sophomore year,” Simmons said. “Last year, our record ended up being pretty bad, but of the 11 games we lost, I think we were winning close to the end of the game in most of them. It’s just stuff we have to clean up for this year.”
You aren’t likely to hear Simmons shouting out instructions during Uniontown baseball games. But you know he will be there, leading in his own quiet way.