Woodall, Manring learn a lot from tryouts

Published 12:00 am Friday, February 25, 2011

Andalusia seniors Robert Woodall and Dilan Manring got the chance to show their baseball skills at the Under Armour Baseball Factory Tryout earlier in February, and it paid off in the end.

Woodall and Manring did so well at the tryout, that each will attend the National Tryout held in Omaha, Neb., in June.

There, they will play five games in a course of one week, allowing former major league players and coaches to help fine tune their skills.

Both said Thursday that they learned quite a lot from the experience.

“What I learned is that I need to not put as much pressure on myself, and enjoy the game more, and have fun with it,” Woodall said. “I think that this showed me definitely what I need to improve on.”

“It definitely showed me I needed to keep working on the stuff that needs improving, and keep doing good,” added Manring.

The factory tryout was held in Mobile, where Woodall and Manring were put through drills in their respective field positions, and hitting.

Woodall, an outfielder, fielded line drives, caught pop flies and threw the ball to the right position in the infield.

Manring, a catcher, showed his blocking and receiving technique behind the plate.

Additionally, both were video-taped while at the plate in the batting portion of the tryouts.

Manring said he enjoyed his time at the tryouts.

“It wasn’t that bad,” he said. “It was fun, actually.”

For Woodall, it gave him the opportunity to play baseball a little bit longer.

Woodall and Manring will try to help lead the Bulldogs to home-opening victories tonight, as they play host to Greenville in a doubleheader.

Both said in the end, they’re excited about the tryouts in June.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” Woodall said.