Smithson Valley's Ty Asberry had a breakthrough season as a junior.

Although he got taste of varsity baseball as a sophomore, driving home a team-leading 33 runs as a junior gave him the confidence of an impact player.

After passing the breakthrough stage, Asberry’s bat has now been upgraded to the encore level as the senior first baseman-designated hitter continues to produce big results.

This season, the big results appear to be even bigger as his .372 average and team-leading 19 RBIs has helped the Rangers to a 12-5 season record and a 3-0 District 26-5A mark.

It is a nice beginning; Asberry is hoping it gets better.

It was important for all of us to get off to a good start,” said Asberry, who has two home runs, three triples and seven doubles. “It was important for me, because I made All-District last year and I wanted to be consistent this year, too. I wanted to show everyone that things don’t always change.

“It’s still that love for the game that makes you want to go out here. When ever you connect on the sweet spot of the bat, there’s nothing like it.”

Nothing much has changed as far as production goes. Asberry is sticking to the same batting stance, and he still has the patience to stay off the bad pitches.

However, one thing is different. Asberry’s comfort zone has grown.

“I‘ve really felt comfortable the past two years,” Asberry said. “Playing on varsity as a sophomore really helped me. I learned how certain things worked. I was surrounded by great players who really helped me. And we went to the State Tournament.”

Going to the Class 5A State Tournament as a sophomore provided added incentive for Asberry. The Rangers didn’t win the title that year, losing to Rockwall in the semifinals.

Still, the experience was rewarding enough to make Asberry want to return and possibly win the whole thing.

Reaching that goal would be the perfect topping for his high school career. However, reaching such a pinnacle doesn’t come easy.

Region IV is highly competitive, but the first order of business is getting out of talent-rich District 26-5A.

What makes the situation even more challenging this season, the Rangers sport a younger look than the past two years. However, that hasn’t been an issue in the early going as Smithson Valley, which finished second in this past weekend’s South San Tournament, is off to a perfect start in league play.

“That’s our dream,” Asberry said. “We have it circled on our calendar. We know it is going to take a lot of effort. We would love to go there again. “We have players who can do the job. Some of them are young, but they are disciplined and work hard. We believe we can make it. We’re getting better all the time.”