Crack! Number eight scoops up the hard hit ground ball and throws across the infield diamond to seal another win for his team. While many kids were out partying and vacationing over the summer, senior Kaiden Dossa had different plans. After a travel packed couple of months, the skillful shortstop verbally committed on Aug. 23 to play Division I baseball at Yale University. Currently playing travel ball for the Southern California Giants, Dossa is looking forward to returning back to school and competing in his fourth and final season for the Tamalpais High School Red-Tailed Hawks.

As the main thing people tend to focus on is a player’s final commitment to a school, many fail to recognize how much persistence and dedication goes into the college recruiting process. 

“Over this summer, I went to a number of showcases and camps all around the country,” Dossa said. “I think I was out of town more than I was here [Mill Valley]. Honestly, the whole summer was very stressful because it’s pretty late in the process, so I was always nervous to do things when people had already been recruited and committing to schools.”

With less than 2 percent of all high school baseball players carrying on to play at a Division I level in college, Dossa is among an elite group of 2023 recruits and is not there by accident. “Over the past three years, I have been going down to the field almost everyday to work and honestly just get better,” Dossa said. 

With Yale being an extremely selective university, Dossa explained how important the academic side of things were during the process. “With schools like these [Yale] if you have any significant number of B’s or ’s on your transcript, you’re off the table. So being consistent on the field and in the classroom was the biggest thing for me and has been the case since freshman year,” Dossa said. He was sure to mention how excited he is for this upcoming senior season at Tam and to have the freedom to just enjoy the game, without having to worry about any recruiting.

Nathan Bernstein, longtime varsity baseball coach and newly promoted dean of Tam High, had nothing but great things to say about Dossa. “My favorite thing is the example he sets for the young kids and just his commitment to really wanting to get better, and just being a really good person overall. He’s just really what I look for in a leader. As a player skill wise, he’s a phenomenal hitter, a really good pitcher, so he kind of does the whole package,” Bernstein said.

Entering his seventh year as head coach of the program, Bernstein is relying on Dossa to play a pivotal role in the team’s leadership this season. “We as a program look at Kaiden as a lead by example guy, but leaders do need to be vocal and that is my push for Kaiden this year. I want to see him take that initiative and not just worry about himself but how to get the rest of the team engaged in order to succeed and win games. Once we see that next step in leadership, we are going to see a lot of growth with his teammates,” Bernstein said. Regarding his recruitment, coach Bernstein explained that Dossa should be given all the credit for his hard work and drive to reach the next level. 

“I have known Kaiden for most of my life,” senior pitcher and fellow teammate of Dossa, Tyler Buxton, said. “Growing up playing with Dossa as a teammate, I always admired his work ethic.” 

Focusing on his high school career, Buxton explained how immensely he has seen Dossa grow throughout his varsity years. “Since Kaiden and I were on varsity together since sophomore year, he has skyrocketed as a player. As he kept getting better, I noticed his love and passion for the game grew as well, and that is something you really can’t teach,” Buxton said. Buxton lastly mentioned how thrilled he was to play with Dossa for one last year, and can’t wait to see what he’s going to do this upcoming season. 

As he enters his senior year at Tam, all eyes are on Dossa to lead the baseball team and make his mark as a hawk. After a grueling college recruiting process, the future is bright for Dossa at Yale. All the best to him and a well deserved congratulations for this huge accomplishment in his career.