Portageville seniors reflect on immense amount of success achieved

CHARLESTON – For Portageville High School 2023 senior athletes Trey Benthal and Thomas Frakes, playing a summer league baseball game for the Southeast Tropics and Charleston Fighting Squirrels, respectively, on Tuesday at Hillhouse Park in Charleston was a bit of a relief. Particularly, in light of what the two had just wrapped up in their high school athletic careers.

“I’m just trying to have fun,” Benthal said of pitching and catching for the Tropics. “Our (high school) season was stressful. It was still fun, but there were a lot of stressful moments.”

Portageville was dominant over the past three seasons with Benthal and Frakes playing big roles for the Bulldogs, however, that success came with the expectations of everyone to play extremely well, every day.

Which Portageville almost always did.

The Bulldogs won 90 games over the past three springs, three District championships, two sectional titles, two quarterfinal titles, and a semifinal win, as the Bulldogs finished second (MSHSAA Class 2) a year ago and third (Class 3) this year in the state.

“I’m just trying to have fun this summer,” Benthal continued, “and relax and get better.”

Both Frakes and Benthal were three-sport athletes at Portageville, and it is no coincidence that the Bulldogs had success in every activity that the two took part in.

In football, the two helped the Bulldogs evolve from a two-win team in 2021 to a seven-win team last fall, in which Portageville won the MSHSAA Class 1 District 1 championship for the first time in two decades.

“It gives me a ton of pride,” Frakes said of the Bulldogs’ success. “To be able to look up on the walls in the gym and see a banner (for baseball) from last year, and to know that another one is going up this year.

“It’s really special going into the gym and being able to see what you accomplished.”

The Portageville class of 2023 didn’t limit their success outdoors.

In basketball, Benthal and Frakes each played roles in helping the Bulldogs have winning seasons in each of the past three winters, and in a total of 49 victories in all.

“I love (Portageville),” Benthal said. “I talk about Portageville all of the time. I am always going to talk about it. Until my kids come up, I’m always going to talk about it.

“I’m so proud to be a part of that and what we got to do over the past couple of years. It was just great to be a part of Portageville. I will always love to be a part of Portageville.”