KELSEYVILLE >> A flip of a quarter — actually consecutive flips — made at least two different things happen in the life of Kelseyville High School junior Kyle Ellis during the 2015-16 sports season.
First, he continued playing baseball. Second, he ended up winning the Lake County Record-Bee’s Athlete of the Year award for boys’ sports.
Perhaps the last time a quarter’s flip meant so much to the individual concerned occurred in the Oscar-winning film No Country for Old Men when a gas station owner’s call of heads saved him from an untimely death at the hands of hitman Anton Chigurh.
Unsure if he would play a second sport for the Knights this past season (and Athlete of the Year winners are required to play at least two), Ellis said the final decision was made by random chance.
“I wasn’t going to play (baseball),” Ellis said. “I played my freshman and sophomore years, but I didn’t do as well as I thought I should have and I wasn’t having as much fun playing baseball as basketball.”
Ellis said he had two choices headed into the spring sports season and he was torn between the two. He could keep on refining his considerable basketball talent, skills that earned him a spot on the All-North Central League I first team and saw him score his 1,000th career point, or take up a glove and a bat.
Recalling that day back in February, Ellis said, “We were traveling home (the day) after our playoff game in Arcata (a 56-52 opening-round loss) and there was baseball practice that afternoon. I didn’t know if I wanted to go. So I decided to flip a quarter, best two out of three wins. If it comes up heads, I play baseball. If not, I don’t.”
The first flip turned up heads and so did the second, according to Ellis. Decision made.
“I put on my baseball pants and went to practice,” Ellis said.
It was a fortuitous move for both Ellis and Kelseyville baseball. He went on to have a banner year and so did the Knights, who reeled off 17 consecutive wins at one point, won all 14 of their league games, and came within a 2-1 loss to No. 1 seed Arcata in the semifinals of the North Coast Section playoffs of reaching the championship game. No Lake County teams has ever come closer in Division IV.
A baseball player since the second grade and a relative late bloomer in basketball, which he didn’t take up until middle school and only after a good friend, Lower Lake High School’s Marlon Jones, talked him into it, Ellis said he really doesn’t have a favorite sport but loves basketball and baseball equally. He used to play football (from third grade until his freshman year) but a series of concussions and neck problems ended his participation in that sport.
“I’ve had some problems with concussions and neck pain,” Ellis said.
Not all of them were sports-related, however.
“When I was in the sixth grade I threw myself onto my bed, hit my head against the wall (denting the wall in the process),” Ellis said. “When that happened a (nearby) bookshelf fell on top of me and it knocked me out.”
Ellis briefly gave up baseball to play for a traveling basketball team. He decided to take up the sport again his freshman year and so impressed head coach Lou Poloni that he was promoted to the varsity late in his freshman year. In basketball, Ellis has been a varsity starter from day one under head coach Scott Conrad.
“I struggled my sophomore year,” Ellis said of his up-and-down baseball experience.
“He had kind of a sophomore funk,” Poloni said. “When we brought him up two-thirds of the way through his freshman year he made a loud bang. His sophomore year he struggled, especially on defense. I think things kind of got into his head.”
After a 20-3 campaign this past season with the Knights, Ellis said he definitely won’t be flipping a coin in the next offseason to determine his baseball future.
“I’ll be playing next year,” Ellis said.
A mainstay at shortstop for the Knights during their league championship run, he also had a big year at the plate.
“You’re not going to replace his offense,” Poloni said when asked about what Kelseyville’s 2016 squad would have been like without Ellis. “To start the year we might have been OK without him, but once injuries hit and we had some grade problems, I don’t know what we would have done.”
Apart from his baseball skills, Poloni said Ellis brings other intangibles to the team. For starters, he’s quite the prankster and you are probably better off not leaving your cell phone within easy reach.
“He’s been to known to change the screen picture,” Poloni said. “He’s a fun kid and we talk all the time because makes me laugh so hard. He brings a lot of joy to the team.”
Ellis went on to secure first-team honors on the All-League baseball team.
A three-year starter for the Knights in basketball, Ellis helped Kelseyville compile a 19-9 overall record and 9-5 league mark during the 2015-16 season. While the team was a factor in the league race much of the way, it came up short in the end, largely because of two losses to county rival Lower Lake, and that stung a bit as far as Ellis was concerned.
A student in the Konocti Unified School District growing up, the 17-year-old Ellis says he knows all of the Trojans’ players, including Jones, one of his best friends.
“Losing to Lower Lake twice in basketball,” Ellis responded without hesitation when asked about the low point of his junior season.
“We fell short as a team,” Ellis said of the Knights’ drive to win a league championship. “There were two or three games we didn’t really have it. Our league was good enough that anyone could beat anyone.”
The basketball season also produced the best moment of Ellis’ junior season. That was a 41-40 win over eventual league champion Cloverdale on Jan. 8 at Kelseyville High School.
“I’ve never beaten them and to do it at home was great,” Ellis said.
Ellis, who can do pretty much everything on the basketball court, led the team with a scoring average of 14.8 points per game. He could shoot from the perimeter – his 74 3-pointers led the county – or drive inside. An accomplished passer, Ellis did a little bit of everything for the Knights.
Critiquing his own game, Ellis said his strength is passing. The one area he needs to improve is ballhanding.
“I love to pass the ball,” Ellis said. He’s also pretty good about putting the ball through the hoop.
One of five Lake County players – but the only boy – to reach the 1,000-point career milestone last season, Ellis finished the the 2015-16 campaign with 1,036 points. He has one more year left to add to that total. While the county record for boys (1,717, held by Conrad, his coach) would be difficult to reach, Ellis is sure to take up residence in the high-rent district among the county’s all-time scorers before he’s done.
“I never really thought about it,” Ellis said of hitting 1,000 points. “Going into my freshman year I remember him (Conrad) telling me that my scoring would come and not to worry about it, and I haven’t.”
“Kyle’s good enough where he probably could do it,” Conrad said of becoming the county’s all-time leading scorer among boys, “but if he scores that many points (next season) our team would suffer.
“He’s a great passer and he’s bought into the system. We’ve had the discussion many times. He’s such a selfless kid he will do anything for the good of the team.”
Conrad, himself a four-year starter for the Knights under former head coach Stan Weiper back in the 1980s, said the decision to start Ellis on the varsity from day one of his high school career was a no-brainer.
“First, he had good size and was a quick enough and smart enough athlete,” Conrad said. “He was almost physically mature. Second, we were coming off a three-win season and we needed the help. Even as a freshman he was our best player at times. I didn’t treat him with kid gloves. I’m really demanding of the kids I think the most highly of.”
Conrad, himself a baseball player in high school, said he was happy that Ellis made the decision to keep on playing this spring.
“I encouraged him to do it,” Conrad said.
Ellis said he wants to win at least one more league championship before his high school career ends and he certainly likes the Knights’ chances next season in basketball.
“I think we definitely can win it next year,” Ellis said. “We have some good players coming up. If everyone stays healthy I think we can do it. We better because it’s my last chance.”
Kelseyville’s baseball team gave Ellis his first league title and he said he knows why.
“Camaraderie,” Ellis said when asked about why the Knights were so good even though injuries and grades cost them a handful of starters. “A lot of us had played together for a long time.”
Ellis, who turns 18 on Aug. 2, spends his free time hunting and fishing. The son of Kevin and Connie Ellis, Kyle has a younger sister Kalee, 13, and a younger brother Brayden, 2. He also has a loud cheering section at his games, usually led by grandfather Steve Ellis.
“I don’t think he’s ever missed one of my games,” Ellis said.
Both Conrad and Poloni said they believe Ellis is capable of making the jump to college ball in either of his respective sports as long as he’s committed to working hard.
While he wants to continue his athletic career in college, Ellis said he hasn’t made up his mind about which sport he’ll pursue.
You might say it’s a coin flip.
