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During his freshman year at Arlington Martin, Jantzen Witte decided that balancing baseball and tennis was too difficult. So he gave up tennis, a sport he had played since he was 6 years old.

"I don't regret it," said Witte, a senior shortstop, "but sometimes I wonder what it would be like. I probably could've picked what college I wanted to go to."

Witte isn't overstating his tennis skill. Ten years ago, he won the 8-year-old division of the Little Mo Nationals. Three years later, he was the national runner-up in the Little Mo 11-year-old division. As a 13-year-old, he was in the top 50 in the nation for players 14-and-under.

But baseball was Witte's favorite sport. And playing tennis two to three hours each day, four days a week, didn't leave much time for baseball. So the summer before his sophomore year, Witte didn't just cut back on tennis, he stopped playing altogether.

"Tennis was year-round, and if you didn't play every day, you would fall behind," he said. "When I quit, I pretty much quit."

Witte became a full-time baseball player, and three years later, he looks like one. Witte (6-3, 190) entered the week hitting .481 with six home runs and a team-high 34 RBIs for Martin, the No. 4 team in the area 5A rankings. Witte can hit for power and he can hit to all fields, Martin coach Curt Culbertson said, and he's also a defensive standout.

"If a ball comes his way," Culbertson said, "it's an out."

Sounds like, whether for tennis or baseball, Witte should have a bunch of athletic scholarships to choose from. But that hasn't been the case, although Culbertson said lots of scouts have taken a look at Witte.

"We've had a lot of window-shoppers, but you have to follow him for a few weeks because he's not a flashy player," Culbertson said. "Somebody's going to pull the trigger, and they're going to get a good one."

Witte isn't worried about it. He knows he will play baseball in college, he said, and it's just a matter of waiting for the right school. He wasn't expecting to be a top recruit, anyway.

At least not in baseball. But he would make the same decision again.

"I enjoyed both sports," Witte said. "But baseball, with it being a team sport, it's more enjoyable."

mwixon@dallasnews.com

YEARBOOK MOMENT: During this month in 1994, Irving Nimitz pitcher Karen Lundstedt threw a no-hitter in an 8-0 victory over Grand Prairie in Game 3 of the best-of-3 District 5-5A championship series. Earlier in the day, Lundstedt allowed seven runs in the sixth inning as Grand Prairie forced the third game. "I knew after what happened in the first game that I wouldn't let it happen again," said Lundstedt, who later pitched for Texas Woman's University.

CLEARING IT UP: It's fun to see coaches who can laugh during a game, and Rowlett softball coach Dianne Jones is one of them. During last week's win over Sachse, Jones told a Rowlett hitter to keep her weight on her back foot and then told all her players, "If I tell you that, it does not imply that you are heavy."

FROM KICKS TO HITS: For the second straight year, area soccer teams won three state titles. Soccer teams from the area have won 22 of the 40 titles since UIL adopted the sport in 1983. Maybe the success will begin to rub off on area baseball teams, which haven't won a title since 2002.