Making the adjustment
Dicus getting batters

out on two levels
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

It’s impossible to win the Northwestern 4-A Conference without good pitching. It’s not that the offense in the league is overwhelming.

The pitching, however, is a different story.

All of the conference teams, even winless Freedom, have pitchers who could be considered stoppers. From Jimmy Messer at South Caldwell, to Reggie Washington at Freedom, to Adam Sigmon at Alexander Central, teams have pitchers who can shut down an offense.

Pitching has kept Watauga in the race for at least second place in the Northwestern 4-A Conference. Tyler Moore (3.34 ERA), Jon Sharpe (2.45 ERA), Austin Story (2.40 ERA) and Ethan Moyer (3.50 ERA) have kept the Pioneers in games when their offense struggles.

There is another Pioneer, Will Dicus, who is getting it done on the mound in both varsity and jayvee games.

Dicus’ story has been told, but it’s worth repeating. The junior was a standout pitcher for his 12-year old Little League All-Star team, throwing 70-miles-per-hour fastballs past opponents with plenty of steam to spare.

Then he was thrown a curveball from life when he was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in his leg. He was 13-years old when diagnosed.

Dicus, now 17 has been fighting that cancer ever since. Dicus has been through the war via chemotherapy and everything else involving the disease. He has a four-inch section of his left tibia replaced by a cadaver bone, which limits his ability to build strength in the leg.

He also visits the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., once every four weeks for treatments that his father, Bill Dicus, said have been successful. Will Dicus still has some tumors in his lung, but the recent treatments have reduced them by more than 25 percent.

“At this point, things are going very well,” Bill Dicus said.

“The largest tumor in his lungs when we started was 2 1/2 centimeters. It’s down to 1.8, which is more than a 25 percent reduction. That tells us the treatment is working.”

Neither the cancer nor the treatments have kept Dicus on the sidelines. Instead, the junior, who is still on schedule to graduate with his class, has been using his own curveball to get batters out with plenty of regularity lately.

His latest gem was a no-hitter he tossed at Freedom’s jayvee last Friday. In Watauga’s 15-0, five-inning win, Dicus struck out eight and even slapped a single to right field during a fourth-inning rally.

After he pitched Watauga to a five-inning victory over East Burke’s jayvee team the previous Friday by tossing a one-hitter, Dicus went five innings in the Pioneers’ 3-2 varsity victory over a good West Wilkes team last Wednesday. West Wilkes, a 1-A power, was 13-2 after that game, it’s only losses to Watauga.

Dicus was solid, throwing just 62 pitches in five innings. He allowed just three hits, including a solo home run. He struck out three and walked two, neither who scored. In fact, Watauga turned a double play to get one of those runners out.

“You’ve got to stick with the deuce,” Dicus said after the game. “I’ve got a good deuce. I don’t have that good of a fastball, so I’ve got to stick with the deuce. I was able to keep them off balance a bit.”

Dicus also nearly caused an entire cheering section to have a group heart attack, when a batted ball hit him in the foot. Dicus calmly picked up the ball and threw it to first base to get the batter out.

“It got me in the bad leg, but it got me in the foot,” Dicus said. “I didn’t even feel it, I had so much adrenaline going through. It’s just a walk in the park for me.”

His coach, Pete Hardee, said he had no doubt that Dicus would shake off any pain the hit might have caused.

He sees Dicus as an old-school baseball player who can play with the small, and sometimes, the big hurts.

“He’s tough, man,” Hardee said. “He’s probably the toughest player on our field. Just like when he didn’t let anybody come out and check on him — I like that. You don’t let a hitter knock you out of the game and you don’t let him put you in a situation where a trainer needs to see you unless it’s really bad. Will’s a tough kid and I love the way he does that.”

Bill Dicus was not in attendance, but Will’s mother, Peppi Dicus, was. Bill Dicus said he would have been extremely worried, but was reassured by Will that the ball “Hit him in his cleat.”

Then again, Will’s parents worry about every appearance he makes, but know that the reward of their son’s participation is worth the risks involved.

“Every time he pitches, knowing what he’s been through, you see the potential, even if it is remote, for something bad happening,” Bill Dicus said. “I always felt like it’s a tradeoff. The chance to do what he wants to do outweighs that.”