Panthers’ success is built on “HITSS”

Baseball has always been a complex game. It’s both physically and mentally challenging, hence why first-year NRHEG head coach Marcus Fisher has worked to simplify the game for his team with a new ideology called “HITSS.”

Despite two consecutive losing seasons in 2024 and 2025, Fisher’s debut season at the helm in 2026 is off to a 10-3 start, tying the Panthers with Blooming Prairie for first place in the Gopher Conference.

“The ‘H’ stands for hustle. The ‘I’ is for integrity. ‘T’ stands for team before me. There are actually two ‘S’s.’ The first one is sweat and the second is skill,” said Fisher on his HITSS acronym.

According to him, the combination of on- and off-field characteristics involved with HITSS is to help make sure his student-athletes are succeeding in every field they partake in, even outside of the foul lines.

“The acronym is designed to mainly be about things that can be controlled. You can’t always determine where the ball is going to be hit, but our players can control how much they hustle, how they act in their community, how they treat their teammates and how hard they work to get better at practice and on game days,” said Fisher.

The selfless brand of baseball has resulted in a seven-game winning streak stemming from a 7-3 matchup against Mayer Lutheran on April 24 to a 6-5 thriller over Maple River on Friday, May 8. The Panthers played Randolph on Monday, April 11, however, results were not available at the time of press.

“[HITSS] is kind of like a common goal,” said NRHEG senior Owen Wayne. “Some teams might think it’s corny, but I think it’s really helped. I think coach Fisher is doing a great job so far and HITSS has been a big part of our success.”

On top of buying into Fisher’s coaching, the Panthers have invested in their work ethic.

“On game days, one of our coaches will set up the batting cage and we’ll get there at like 7 a.m. to hit for an hour before school. We’re also out practicing our fielding with ground balls. We’re getting those extra reps in because we want to win and we want to get better,” said Wayne.

Fans attending NRHEG games so far this season have also probably heard the dugout yell out, “win the inning,” between switching from offense to defense.

The motto is yet another key part of NRHEG’s identity in 2026.

“We want to focus on winning one inning at a time. Especially in these close battles, sometimes it feels like the game going to go on forever. When you look at it like, ‘OK, let’s get these three outs and then try to get some momentum at the plate,’ I think it helps to focus on the immediate, and not worry about what the game is going to look like in 45 minutes,” said Fisher.

The new-look program has put itself in position to be a serious contender when the playoffs begin later this month.

Although the Panthers sit tied with Blooming Prairie for first, NRHEG does own a 2-0 series sweep against the Awesome Blossoms that could come into play when section seeding begins.