2024 Chillicothe High School graduate Justin Pyle is playing – and competing well thus far – with the Chillicothe Mudcats’ college-level, wood-bat baseball team this summer, getting a head start on the college career he received an opportunity to have when he signed a National Junior College Athletics Association letter-of-intent to receive a scholarship to be part of the North Central Missouri College baseball program at Trenton. Among one of the top performers as an infielder and hurler on this past spring’s otherwise-mostly-underclassmen CHS Hornets team, Pyle reports he was given a general tryout by veteran NCMC head coach Donnie Hillerman after e-mailing Hillerman of his interest in playing as an infielder while he attended the nearby school, but was offered the scholarship after they saw him throw a series of pitches. “I guess they liked what they saw” of his pitching potential, Pyle told the C-T after his April 22 official signing. A member of traveling teams since age eight years, he shared, his pitch repertoire includes both 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs, a slider, and a curveball. In joining NCMC’s Pirates, the Chillicothe joins a solid program which won its regional tournament in 2023 and which has had numerous players – including several top contributors – join the Mudcats for summer experience over the past decade. Seated on either side of him for his signing were his parents Jennifer and Justin. Also on hand were members of the CHS coaching staff, including 2024 head coach Troy Figg (back, right). (PAUL STURM/C-T PHOTO)
