When Mid-Prairie’s baseball team traveled to Des Moines on a sunny afternoon in July 2020, one of the bright-eyed kids watching that day at the ballpark was Carson Pence.

The Golden Hawks were in the quarterfinals of the 2A state tournament at Principal Park.

Home of the Triple-A Cubs.

The big time.

Carson was a rising freshman at the time. He was an eighth-grader with his own visions and his own dreams.

“It was really cool to see that first season we went to state,” Pence recalled one day last week. “From there, I just knew we would have high expectations.”

Those expectations include going to the state tournament. The Golden Hawks have made it to the state tournament twice in the last four years. They’ve won a district championship every year. For Pence and his seven senior-class teammates, Mid-Prairie baseball is a passion.

“It’s been everything to me. It’s my life,” Pence said.

“We’ve got a big class,” Golden Hawks head coach Kyle Mullet said. “They’ve always kind of been a baseball class. Those guys enjoy the game.”

Brock Harland, a senior catcher and pitcher, has been on the team since 2021 and a starter for three seasons.

Dylan Henry has been a starter for three years. Joe Hall has been a starter for two years. Bowen Burmeister has been on the varsity for three years, then emerged as a starting hitter and pitcher this year, and tossed his first no-hitter.

“To put it on for the town, my senior year, is really special for me,” Burmeister said. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”

Luke Traetow became a Golden Hawk last year and is hitting over .300 this summer. Jackson Miller is the constant force in the bullpen, running back there to catch pitches every time a relief pitcher is told to warm up. When Miller gets a rare at-bat, the entire team stands at the front of the dugout, shouting enthusiastically.

“He has a great attitude all the time,” Mullet said of Miller. “What he does in the dugout for us, the morale with the guys. He just does a tremendous job.”

Kurt Schneider is a bench player who’s hitting a perfect 1.000 and joins Pence out of the bullpen.

For some, it is a long path toward that cherished spot on the varsity bench.

Pence was not on the varsity his freshman year. He got a sniff in his sophomore year after being promoted from JV. He made the varsity team as a relief pitcher last year, injured his arm, then somehow came back for a senior season that he hopes will carve a path toward a spot on a college team.

And that’s the buried story lead.

Pence suffered an injury that for years was a knockout blow for a baseball pitcher: Tommy John. You wouldn’t even dare to say those words in a baseball dugout anywhere. Tommy John. The death sentence. The dead arm. Throw a baseball? You couldn’t lift a frozen waffle. It’s a torn ulnar collateral ligament inside the elbow. After that, you didn’t throw a baseball. Ever.

That all changed in 1974, when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy John had the surgery performed on his arm by Dr. Frank Jobe, a procedure that involves taking a tendon from elsewhere in the body and replacing the ligament. The surgery has progressed so much that a Tommy John tear doesn’t necessarily end a career anymore.

And that’s for a Big Leaguer.

Imagine the pain, mental and physical, when it happens to a high schooler.

Pence returned in less than a year.

“If I could change just one thing about my life,” Pence said, “not getting hurt, just getting to play with my teammates.”

That’s the thing. Pence remained in the dugout, injury or not.

“Just being in the dugout with all my friends, even though I couldn’t play or anything, it was just so special,” he said. “The community here is just great.”

And that brings us to 2024. Pence was the team’s closer, the guy who came in and shut down an opponent in the late innings. It’s a role that Pence, a former starting pitcher, grew to love.

“It’s nice knowing that I get to go in and close us down,” Pence said. “It’s such a great feeling, especially after those games are over, where everybody is just so excited, hyped up after a win. It’s just such a special feeling.

“I didn’t know how I’d feel about it at first, coming in last year, because I always started my whole life,” Pence said. “I just loved it. I really embraced the role.”

Said Mullet: “He’s been a big arm for us out of the pen, along with Kurt Schneider.”

News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul