By Terra Avilla
There’s a very specific kind of postseason hangover that has nothing to do with liquor and everything to do with hearts. The boys pack up, the field gets quiet, and suddenly the rhythm of game days, bus rides, walk-up songs, and laundry piles just… stops.
The house is still, I’m exhausted down to my bones, and my brain is replaying every inning from the playoff run like a highlight reel I can’t turn off.
But this year, that “season’s over” ache feels a little different, because one of the boys isn’t leaving. He’s staying. And he’s not really a boy… though the guys treat him like one of their own. He’s our assistant coach, Coach Aaron Hassell, and what an absolute gift he’s been, not just to Lassen Baseball, but to Susanville as a whole.
Last year, we were blessed with Coach Kade, who was such a huge part of this program and this community. Losing him as he got a full-time job coaching at four-year school was bittersweet in the best possible way.
It’s exactly what you want for your people, but also exactly what makes your stomach twist when you think about replacing them. How do you follow that? How do you risk “new” when what you had felt so good and so right?
That’s the headspace we were in when Coach Hassell came into the picture. And I say we…because a good assistant coach only makes the baseball program thrive, it is LIFE SAVING to the Avilla household as a whole. So yes, we were nervous. Protective. A little skeptical, if we’re being honest. Then he showed up, settled in, and it became very clear, very quickly: this man is a Coug through and through. He didn’t just fit the culture; he invested in it. He didn’t just step into a role; he expanded it.
Being an assistant coach at this level isn’t just fungo bats and bullpens. It’s recruiting. It’s phone calls and texts and long conversations with families. It’s convincing boys from all over the country to come to a small town most of them have never heard of and trust that this place, these people, and this program will be worth it.
You can’t sell Susanville if you don’t love Susanville.
And Coach Hassell loves this place. He talks about the community, the way people show up, the way local businesses support the boys, the teachers who work with travel schedules, the families who cheer like these kids are their own. He explains why this tiny dot on the map is actually the center of something special: a place where you can grow up, get better, and belong. That kind of recruiting pitch only works when it’s real, and with him, it’s very real.
On the field, the results speak loudly: our pitchers had the least number of walks in the entire state this year. That doesn’t just happen by accident. That’s a pitching program built on accountability and trust.
The boys love him not just because he helps them get outs, but because he shows up for them as people. He’s demanding without being demeaning, firm but fair, funny at the right times, serious when it counts. He’s the kind of coach who makes them better competitors and, quietly, better men. That balance is rare, and this year, we got to see it play out inning after inning.
And if all of that wasn’t enough confirmation, the GVC made it official Coach Hass was named Assistant Coach of the Year.
That honor doesn’t just say he’s good at throwing batting practice or calling pitches. It says his peers see his work. It says the impact he has on this program is visible from the outside, not just felt on the inside. For a little community college in a little town, that matters. It shines a light back on the kids, on the school, and on this community that lifts them all up.
So this “Why We Love This Place Wednesday” is for Coach Hassell, for choosing Susanville, for loving Lassen, for caring about these boys like they’re his own, and for making it that much easier to tell recruits, with a straight face and a full heart, “You should come here. This place is special.”
And it is… because of people like you.
