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Parkway's Caiden Berry (left) and Devon Crouch (center), who signed letters of intent on Thursday to play baseball at Defiance College, are joined by Panthers coach Neil Schaffner.
ROCKFORD - Caiden Berry and Devon Crouch have been classmates and teammates in several sports at Parkway throughout their school days.
Now, they'll continue to be classmates and teammates after both committed to play at Defiance College for baseball on Thursday.
"That's huge to have someone I know come with me," said Berry of keeping Crouch as a teammate in Defiance. "He's a great add to the team. It'll be great."
Crouch concurred.
"We'll have the chemistry already," said Crouch. "It's nice that I will know somebody up there. We'll be helping each other out."
The two share more than a sport when heading north. Both are majoring in criminal justice.
"They've got the major I've been looking into," said Berry. "Just seemed like a good fit for me."
Crouch likes the fact that the roughly one-hour trip from Rockford to Defiance is the perfect distance.
"It's nice that it's not too far away, but just far enough," said Crouch.
The Yellow Jackets will be moving from NCAA Division III to NAIA membership this summer, something that Crouch also noted.
"It's a huge difference," said Crouch.
The Panthers bounced back from a 3-20 season in 2022 to finish 15-10 last season, with Crouch and Berry working as middle infielders and pitchers for the Panthers. Berry batted .270 with seven doubles, 21 RBI and 22 runs scored and a team-high 10 stolen bases while going 1-4 on the hill with a 6.79 earned run average, earning first-team All-Midwest Athletic Conference honors last spring. Crouch led the Panthers in innings pitched with 26 innings in going 3-1 with a 4.58 ERA while batting .264 with 10 runs and 11 RBI in earning an All-MAC honorable mention.
Berry has been working on all aspects of his game to get ready for this spring as well as getting ready to start working with the Yellow Jackets.
"A little bit of everything," said Berry. "I've been hitting with coach (Neil) Schaffner. I've worked on a lot of throwing (and) all parts of my game to make sure I have all the right steps of what I need to do."
Crouch is adding a focus on hitting.
"Just trying to drive the ball more," said Crouch. "And get that batting average up."
