North Linn rides very youthful team and return to mound of Mason Bechen to state baseball

CEDAR RAPIDS — It was supposed to be top secret. Whether it was or not is debatable.

Probably questionable. Most probably doubtful.

Mason Bechen wasn’t going to throw a baseball. Despite playing first base most of this prep baseball season, the North Linn junior star had an arm injury that prevented him from doing so.

“We hit him, put him at first base and hoped nobody knew that he couldn’t throw,” said North Linn Coach Travis Griffith.

Bechen is one of the top players in Class 1A, one of the top pitchers in the class. He had a great spring playing in a league sponsored by Perfect Game USA, hit a personal-high 89 miles per hour with his fastball.

But after the first week of practice with the Lynx, his right arm was hurting. His shoulder was tight.

“It just kind of sucked,” he said.

Physical therapy went nowhere. It took a long time to get a proper MRI scheduled.

A couple of weeks ago or so, the results came back in. No shoulder injury, just some biceps tendinitis.

Bechen could rehab and throw again.

“When the doctor called me and told me nothing was torn, it was definitely a big relief,” Bechen said. “I think another big thing was I didn’t want to be out for basketball (this coming season). It was just definitely relieving.”

A .442 hitter this season, Bechen threw a shutout inning to save North Linn’s district final win over East Buchanan. He threw six shutout innings last week in the Lynx’s 10-inning substate final victory over Wapsie Valley.

He’s back.

“I didn’t want to put too much on his arm (against Wapsie),” Griffith said. “I mean, he’s cleared to pitch, but he should probably be on a bullpen count, this and that. But he cruised, his first four innings he threw 41 pitches. The fifth inning, we made an error, and he faced six batters. He got out of it with the max of what I thought we probably should throw him. They were coming up with their 2, 3 and 4 hitters. You know how kids are. I probably shouldn’t have let him talk me into it, but he said ‘It’s 2-3-4, I can get us through this, and then we will probably have it (the game).’”

“I think it’s just disappointing not doing what I usually do,” Bechen said. “But, I mean, I saw it from a different perspective this year that I don’t usually get. So I think it will help me going into next year knowing how much I missed pitching and things like that. This year was definitely disappointing, but I think next year is going to be a really good season.”

This season has been a really good season. This North Linn team managed to win 24 games and make it to the state tournament, where it plays Remsen St. Mary’s in a quarterfinal Monday night at 7 at Carroll.

What an incredible accomplishment for a team that has no seniors and starts three eighth-graders, two freshmen and a sophomore. Bechen and fellow juniors Cole Griffith and Cael Benesh have done a great job of tutoring and leading their young teammates.

“We knew we were going to be young,” Griffin said. “I think the biggest part was Bechen not being able to throw or play shortstop was the biggest wrench ... The pitching and the shortstop parts were huge, as far as what we needed to do and what we were able to do.”

The coach credited the defensive game of eighth-grader Macoy Winn at shortstop. Another eighth-grader, Patrick Peyton, has played third base most games.

“Definitely coming into the season, I did not expect us to make it this far into the postseason. Especially when I got hurt,” Bechen said. “A lot of other people had to step up this year. So it’s especially special with this group with what we had to go through this season to make it to the point we’re at right now.”

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