For Central High School’s baseball team, it would appear that the impact of last season has been every bit the powerful motivator that Chargers Head Coach Michael Atkins said it would be.

In 2016, Central secured the No. 1 seed in the Conference 42 tournament. It fell in the championship game to No. 2 Mathews High School, but it had still qualified for the regional tournament.

In the Region 1A East tournament quarterfinals, the sixth-seeded Chargers led most of the way against host and third-seeded Windsor High School, but they ended up falling 9-6 after a walk-off three-run home run in the eighth inning.

“We were certainly disappointed because we had our sights on advancing further,” Atkins said last month. “That loss is certainly going to be motivation for us going into this season.”

Central finished the 2016 season with a record of 13-9; nine games into the 2017 campaign, the Chargers are 7-2.

They have suffered one big loss, a 12-1 road defeat to Goochland High School on April 4, but more often than not, they are the ones doling out big losses to other teams.

Central opened the year with an 8-2 victory over host Prince Edward County High School on March 16 and a competitive 3-0 home loss to perennial power Randolph-Henry High School the next day. After that, the Chargers put together a five-game winning streak, registering a 15-5 win against visiting Buckingham County High School, a 7-2 defeat of host Nottoway High School, an 11-0 rout of host Sussex Central High School, an 11-5 road victory over William Campbell High School and a 9-0 shutout of visiting Bluestone High School.

Central entered spring break after topping visiting Amelia County High School 13-11.

I commend the Chargers for their success and hope to see it continue.

Titus Mohler is the sports editor of The K-V Dispatch and Farmville Newsmedia LLC. His email address is Titus.Mohler@KVDispatch.com.