Hoffer's High School Sports
Hoffer's High School Sports
The state of high school baseball
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This week's podcast features a discussion on Maine high school baseball and what Tim, through the Portland Junior Dogs non-profit program, is doing to improve participation in Portland and beyond.
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SPEAKER_03Well, here we go again.
SPEAKER_00Here we go.
SPEAKER_03I am uh I'm excited for today.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, and it's probably because we're gonna be talking about your favorite maybe your favorite thing in life outside of your wife and kids.
SPEAKER_03The the best part about uh this this topic, which of course is baseball, uh, is uh that we're talking about uh the state of high school baseball, and both of my boys are playing high school baseball. They are and so family affair uh today. But uh yeah, I'm excited.
SPEAKER_00As you should be. I mean it's it's an interesting time for the sport, you know, lots of changes. I know you're very actively involved in getting more and more kids uh, you know, not just in Portland, but but all over the area, uh getting them into the sport and and you know making them want to want to play and be part of a varsity program. And you know, that that's just gonna help you know rising tide raises all boats, right? And that's kind of the the philosophy there. But you know, just specifically, Tim, I mean what what you've had what you've had going on here of late.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so I I mean my when my boys were going through little league, so John John went first, and when he was 11, he had a great experience. He had a great case, actually, Casey Lawrence was his little league coach.
SPEAKER_00The current Daring coach.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so his his boy Miles is is a year uh older than John is, so he had a great experience. Casey was awesome. He had a uh assistant coach named Rusty, and his son played, and so it was it was very typical little league positive coach, really mellow guy. And then the next year he had some jerk as his coach, me. Um and uh I was gonna say John Mullen, but John's a great guy. But uh yeah, anyway, but uh what I what I was noticing his 11-year-old year was that there's there weren't a lot of kids playing. There were 600 kids in little league, and this is you know, we're not atypical. We're this is what's happening around the country right now, right? And uh it really I hadn't thought about it until then. And I remember when I was a kid, there was nine little leagues, and there was at least four teams in each little league. We've talked about that over and over again. It's just yeah, you know, everybody played baseball because there was no other option. Absolutely there was no lacrosse, there was no, you know, travel sports or any of that stuff. So so um what I wanted to do after that season was start a program that would be low cost because it's really it it it comes down to commitment, time commitment, and cost for a lot of families to play on the weekend, which a lot of kids were doing, and it and it becomes a have and have nots type of situation. I was like, So I started talking to their assistant coach, Rusty, and I was like, what do we do to battle this? And so we did it. We uh the after their 12-year-old year, I was like, I've had enough. There was we were down to four teams in uh in all of Portland for for you know majors baseball, and I said we're just gonna start it. So I got together with Mike Pulaski, whose son Mateo is also John John's age, and a couple other people that were out there, Scott McCaulff, his son now goes, you know, plays second base for Deering. And um we're like, let's just do it. You know, we're gonna do a low-cost thing, we're gonna find a bunch of kids and we're gonna we're gonna pilot it. And uh and it blew up quickly. And uh we you know, we charge them 250 bucks and it basically, you know, Mike and I put a bunch of money into it and we just made it happen. Traveled with a bunch of kids and they loved it. And uh, you know, now we're three years later, this three and a half years later, we've got 120 kids involved and and uh eight teams in Little League now.
SPEAKER_00So can't tell if you build it, they will come, huh?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, that the idea is to to have you know enough kids to fill uh you know a JB and a varsity roster, both Deering and Portland, and the what we found was other towns were watching us doing what we're doing, and now you know Cumberland's got a very robust program in main force, and not that they you know they've they've been a powerhouse for a long time. And there's you know there's some money in that town, and so you get a lot more kids that are paying to play. But you know, Kevin Lee has taken over kind of what we were doing, and he's trying to you know translate it to Cumberland, and so we're now we're now at the point where we've got a weekend league that is a supplement to Little League. Um and we got Firecracker, this uh this kind of sports engine uh group that runs tournaments all up and down the East Coast, made friends with those guys during this process, and they're now kind of sponsoring, if you will, the the league and putting it online, putting the kids' names online and stats and all that stuff, and it's kind of fun. So yeah. The idea is that you know we don't have to go through what we went through this year with Deering in Portland.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you've also created an ability for kids to practice play around, right? I mean, talk about that, the facility and all that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we uh this year we we with with a little prodding, I just said, listen, if we're gonna do this, let's let's do it, let's not do it half-ass and let's go for it. So they everybody was it was uh it was an easy sell. And uh so Mike McCollum found a spot at the at the Pickler and uh that became in the back of the Pickler, the Pickler used to be a Shaw's right front of the Pickler was the retail space. We've got the cooler, so it's a little bit of heat back there, but uh you know it's uh it's good. We put some turf in there. I spent the month of December, you know, retrofitting the thing to put three or four cages in there, and and it has a big Portland Junior Dogs logo on it, and it's it's got a turf space where kids can work out and and uh they you know we we don't interfere with any other sport. That's the whole purpose of the thing. You have to we we recommend that kids play three sports all year long.
SPEAKER_00That's refreshing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And if they miss a practice, nobody cares. It's just if here's the option for your age group, and this is the day that we're gonna practice. If you can make it, great. If you can't, don't worry about it. We're still gonna have a team for you, a place for you on the team, and it's a supplement to other um other sports and to little league. We don't we never get in the way of little league. We if we know a kid's gonna pitch that week, we don't pitch them on the weekend or we pitch them very little. You know, it's uh we don't want to take over anything or become a profit-oriented thing. And I think I think that's what's missing is that we've gotten into a space where there's some profit-oriented minds who are making a lot of money off of baseball that are you know, kind of in and I think their intention was very good that they wanted to ramp up the level of baseball. I was kind of at the beginning of that thing. My brother talked about on the last podcast. Peggy Siegel just she wanted to give her her son and his friends a place to work out. And you know, that's how four seasons started back in 1995, and yeah, and it's it is what it is today. But you know, that given kids that really can't afford it or just don't want to put that kind of time in, a little bit of extra to um um keep them up with the people that are doing it at a you know at maybe at a higher level, it's it's actually showing up in in the Lid League. So you can see the you know, the 10-year-olds are getting better, you know, the 11-year-olds are getting better. And the more than that, I don't really care about their I just want them to play and have fun. And the, you know, when we're talking to the coaches, we're talking about just make sure practice is fun. Games are going to be fun. Make sure practice is the you know the most fun that the kids have. So it's it's just generating some energy so that kids want to keep going.
SPEAKER_00So this is Portland Junior Dogs, and what's the age group start at?
SPEAKER_03Um well, we had an eight-year-old last year, which was you know, uh his dad happens to be one of our coaches and and uh and jumped in on a on a 10U team, but uh his dad was also a division one uh baseball player at U Maine. So Joe Joe Martin. Yeah. And uh, you know, we we've got a 10-year-old uh 10U team, which is nine and 10-year-olds, mostly 10-year-olds, and then uh 11U team, uh, which is Joe's Joe's team. Um, and then we've got two 12U teams, which we've kind of we're kind of doing a hybrid thing where kids are playing with their friends and not playing with their friends some weekends and mix and matching those kids. And then we got a 13-14 uh team, and then we kind of almost graduated the high school kids, but if you go to a Deering and Portland game, you're gonna see mostly junior dogs from that that I call them the OG group because they were the first group to come through.
SPEAKER_00Pioneers, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it was cool actually. Last night we had uh we played Portland, and of the nine kids that were on the field, seven of them were were former junior dogs. But you know, we just that the idea is not not that's not a brag. It's just the the idea was to get them, transition them to high school, have enough confidence to be on the field at at a freshman sophomore level and have enough baseball knowledge and you know the coaches hopefully don't have to teach them how to do a you know something simple like a cutoff, you know, and a bunt and stuff like that. So but hopefully we can get you know, there's a big group of 12-year-olds and we can we can replenish the the freshman group and and have a robust JB program, which is you know any coach will tell you if you don't have a robust JV program, you're gonna you're gonna struggle.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, coming even coming into this year, there w there was uncertainty of whether or not Portland or Daring would be standalone programs. So there was talk that they'd be could be combining. Yeah. Is this helping them remain standalone programs, this infusion of youth, or do you think that's still the the uh the future?
SPEAKER_03I I do I do think that's why I thought so you know I I was a a a big opponent of uh the combination because I know what's coming behind them. It was just selling it to people, you know. Varsity coaches want to win. That's their job. They you know is to win and be, and in my opinion, I always thought as a varsity coach, you just want the kids to be confident. And if they're confident, then they can compete. If they can compete, they can win some games. And if you you know, hopefully along the way you have some talent that comes through, and then then you can really start winning some games. But um, I do think that that 12-year-old group, there's there's a there's a big group, there's probably you know 40 kids. If we you know, there's 24 kids solid that are playing on those two teams, and there's probably 40 kids in that group that I think will will hopefully transition through middle school. You lose kids once they go to the big field, the big diamond. And uh Mike McCollum in Portland, Little League actually did a wonderful thing this year. They uh Pedro Field, which is right in the center of Portland, they re- they um got a loan from Kennebec Savings or a grant from Kennebec Savings, who's right across the street from that field, and uh they turned that into a 50-70 field, which is a it's a tweener field for the 12 and 13 year olds to not have to go all the way up to the big diamond.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_03So they can learn how to lead and pitch from the stretch and all that stuff, and uh and steal bases and stuff like that. So hopefully that will give them enough of a a a jump start so that they're you know, going to the big diamond is not that big a deal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I'm sure you grew up as I did, a lot of pickup games. Oh, yeah. You'd play whatever sport was in season, you know, you'd want to be with your friends and you'd make your own rules and solve your own disputes and all that fun stuff. But I mean, was baseball your passion growing up?
SPEAKER_03No. Okay, believe it or not, it wasn't it like uh it whatever season it was, that was my passion. And I, you know, I grew up playing football in the fall, I couldn't wait for football, and uh, you know, basketball came around, I couldn't wait for basketball to start, and then baseball came around, I'd have to go find my baseball glove. And that you know, but but in between any any sport that we could play at any time, I grew up in Riverdon, so we we had a brand new school, and you know, the Riven Park had a basketball court, and then um you know the the the gym, Riverdon gym. I always say it it saved so many lives because they they used to let kids in like me for free. My brother and I would just go up there and play on a Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, they'd open up the gym to you know anybody that was 13 and under, and then they'd have a high school level, and then you know, an older so we we played whatever everybody else was like, hey, let's go play softball. Okay, let's go play softball, you know. It's it was it was never my passion, and actually growing up I I was I thought I was gonna go to college to play basketball. And that was my that became my passion by the time I was uh I was a 15-16-year-old, went to basketball camps, never went to baseball camps. And but uh I went to went to college b to to play basketball and then tried out for the team, made the team, but then realized that I was gonna lose my my break and that the the season went too long through the two semesters and I wouldn't be able to go home, so I just played baseball. The baseball team was terrible up at Clarkson, so I was I made it. And my big brother was there too.
SPEAKER_00So that had to be fun, a good experience. But not many people can say they played a sport in college, so no, no, it's true.
SPEAKER_03It's true, yeah. And it's and it's different now. I think the the the level of play. I never would I like if I'd tried out I I would have been playing at a small, you know, two-year school now because the level of play has increased, the the level of pitching, I should say. Hitters are probably close to the same, you're probably a little bit deeper in in uh the division three level, but uh but it's it's it's just different now. And the portal has opened up a whole bunch of things. A lot of high school kids aren't getting looked at by college coaches first, they're getting you know, they're kind of an afterthought. So there's a whole bunch of levels. I I and honestly, like the Portland Junior Dogs thing, I just want kids to have a high school experience with their buddies and uh and a full experience with their buddies like I did, and you know, it it I'm still buddies with all of those guys. Those are my best, you know, best friends from high school. Yeah, are the guys that I grew up playing sports with. So that's yeah, and it's it's deep rooted, you know. Right.
SPEAKER_00Did you think you wanted to get into coaching or did you kind of stumble your way into it?
SPEAKER_03My brother's fault. Okay. Actually, I when I left college, I was burnt. Like I I didn't want to see another. I didn't want to look at baseball. I didn't even go to a CDOS game. They were brand new when I came out of college. I was like, I just can't even look at it because I looked at those guys, and there was a couple of guys that I think I played against at Ethica, and I was like, I could be that you know and that in my head, I was like, that that's not true at all. But uh, but when my brother started coaching with Peggy's kid out in Falmouth, he's like, Well, you just come out and throw BP, and uh the first kid that I faced, I was throwing as hard as I could, and I hit the kid in the head like inauspicious beginning. Yeah, I never forget that. And uh my brother's like, Listen, he pulled me aside, I was like, Yeah, you're right. I was like, I just can't, and I realized then that it's a whole different world, like coaching and playing, two completely different worlds of you know stuff. And so it really started there, and then then Peggy hired my brother and I to go do private lessons, and uh, and that's where I really started realizing that I could I can connect with kids, I communicate well with the kids, and kids were responding, and I got more joy out of that, man, than uh I still do. I still get a kick out of coaching a kid and then watching them go succeed. Yeah, there's no better high. I mean, other than having it be your own kid, sure. There's no better high than watching a kid knowing that you just showed that kid how to do that, and then he translated, and then the joy that he felt on the field, and he was like, yes, you know, just being in the background watching it's just there's no better feeling. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you and John teamed up to lead Westbrook to a regional championship in 2005. I mean, it's really an amazing success story. So I know it's not all about winning, but when you do win, I mean that that had to be an incredible high.
SPEAKER_03It was it it was uh it was it was high, like people people only see we talk about this all the time too, but people only see the games, right? And they don't see the amount of coaching that my brother did. And I like I'm not selling myself short, but John is a master at creating team, and we talked about that on the last uh episode, and I've stolen so much from him as a as a coach and positivity and always staying positive. I don't always do that, he's way better at it than I am. I'm more of a gritty, you know, suck it up. But uh, and they they both worked to an extent, but um but the the two years before that, the first year we lost 27 to nothing, the very first game back. And my my brother, it was an ouch, but in the we didn't even care if we won or loss that game. There was a kid that was on the mound, and this is what we were thinking about a kid that I had coached a couple years before, as a he was 13, and we were you know playing on a Sunday league just to play a little bit more baseball. Ben Cutter, I'll never forget it. He had a tragic accident with you know, got hit by his best friend. You know, they were doing something stupid as high school kids on the weekend, and he went through the windshield and broke his arm, broke both of his legs, and this kid rehabbed over the next year, rehabbed himself to the point where he could open up that day. Yeah, and there was no way John was gonna take it away from him. He limped onto the mound and then pitched, and he he went up. I think at one point my brother went to the mound and was like, You want me to take it out? He's like, No, I don't I don't want to come out. And we both of us were like tearing up, and you know, it's our first game and we were like inspirational, yeah. And we we lost 27 to nothing, but it's never been about winning the the team afterwards. We're like they gave Ben a hug, and Jimmy and Jimmy was on the team too, the kid that hit him. Yeah, they remained friends, and uh and he was an awesome kid too. And they just you know you could see the emotion on his dad's face, was crying, and you know, that's what it was all about. And then it slowly got kind of that was kind of a a high-ish if you consider a 27 another, because you know you're you're in the right spot, you know you're the right people to do the right thing in the right moment. Absolutely. But the parents on the other side of that are were were rough, really rough, and uh they uh they gave us the business because we were trying to change culture and higher expectations, and your kid will wear their shirt tucked and they will show up on time and they will commit and blah blah blah. And so, and when you're not that good and you you're playing kids that you know your parents think that their kids are better than yours, they're probably not that far off. So it turns it turns into something else. So, all of those that the highs and lows that went along with that, the the summers are where we really built the relationships and built the talent and built the skills um for that next group of kids, and we got a couple of kids, you know, Andrew Kirsted transferred in from Chevrous because he's a Westbrook kid. Sure. Came back to play with his buddies, and he was having kind of a poor experience at Chevrous, being who he is and the wonderful child that he is, but troublemaker. But uh, you know, and then we developed some talent around him and uh and it turned into a pretty pretty cool thing. And we had 14 seniors that stuck around and they they believed in what we were doing, so it it was it was cool. It was really cool to do it with my brother, and at the time my my brother-in-law Charlie was our uh the varsity assistant, and uh John had little kids at the time, so they were running around the field. It was just it was very much a family thing and very very family oriented. Then the kids became our kids and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and to win your regional championship, you mercy rolled Portland in that in that uh Western A final. So, you know, sometimes things uh work in mysterious ways and poetic ways, and that that had to be extra sweet, I'm guessing, when that when that happened.
SPEAKER_03There's uh when Steve Sands hit that uh hit the ball off the scoreboard, and uh he uh he went around the bases like he's done it 14 times before and then tagged home played, and I was like, this is this is easily one of the best feelings a coach can feel. Just just complete, like you just felt complete, and then uh you know the state game was what it was, and it was it will always be a regret, but that that the time between the when we won the Western Main game until the state game, there was eight days of straight rain, just downpouring rain, so we had to be inside practicing with lunch on the fields, we couldn't go outside, we can scrimmage, we can do anything. And the kids just came out and it was like nine 98 degrees that day. It was like everything was going against you, and that and then uh you know Oxford Hills was a good good little team, though scrappy little team, and they threw a kid that maybe threw 65 miles an hour, and we'd seen you know Charlie Furbush and all those guys that threw 90-95 Ryan Reed and those guys for the last two years. So it was it was interesting, but but to win that Western Maine game, that was f that felt like the state championship to us. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And you got a chance to run your own program with Deering. I mean, it wasn't easy. You took over after the glory days, and you kind of had to start it back up from scratch. But I mean, what what are your recollections of that experience?
SPEAKER_03Uh it was it was uh one of the greatest learning moments as a as a coach. I came in too hard, and uh I thought I in my mind, Deering was always the pinnacle of you know, they always had the most talent in the city of Portland for a long time, and and Portland was the same way. Portland and Daring were both stacked with talent for four or five years. Deering had the most talent because the Flarity boys came over and which naturally brought some of their friends with them, and uh they uh but I came in thinking that the expectation was way up here, you know, at the at the height of you know, this is how we do things, but realized very quickly that I would I had adopted a JV team and uh with some with some behaviors and some you know and I didn't take time to I didn't take time as a coach to get to know the kids first. I just came in hard and thinking that I was I was doing the right thing and within two or three games I realized I had really messed up. And so I I learned very quickly, and I had a great assistant coach, and Andy, Andy Coulomb was my first call after I called, you know, my my wife and uh brother and um he came on quickly and uh he's like you know, you might think about doing this. And I was like, you're right. And so it took us some time during that first year to recover and uh kind of that first year was all about changing um changing the way they thought about being a teammate. And there was a lot of selfish players, a lot of, you know, m bad coaching. And uh by the end of the year we started coming around a little bit and that summer We were able to bring in some of those younger kids. We brought up some eighth graders that we knew were pretty good pretty good pitchers to start developing them in a knowing that they were gonna have a varsity role. That next year, that's when Legion was Legion. It was a really good thing for those eighth graders and freshmen to get some varsity experience. So second year we started rebuilding, and uh third year I thought we were we were a pretty good team. And uh we had two weeks in the first third of the season where I had my my three, four, and five hitters went down with injuries. Bang, bang, bang, and they were like one of them you know separated his knee at the you know, twisted his, I can't remember what the name of the he was gone for a year and a half, so he was out, and then a back injury on Don Bernard, and then it was just like one after another in suspension, and I was like, Oh god. And we were so close. But the the backside of that is it gave some of those younger kids who were, you know, who were chomping at the bit, like Ian Westfall was dying to play, and it gave him a chance to play. You know, there's some kids got some varsity experience, and and then uh you know, those kids got healthy. That freshman group that came in that we had kind of brought along in the summertime came in that next year, and when I when I left, I think Stoll won the coach of the year the next year. I think he did.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they made a nice run, yeah, nice playoff run.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, and all those guys were healthy, and we had the the sophomore pitchers who we we called them the young guns at the time, and we knew that they were gonna be good and they were supporting Sam Lubert and uh Marzilli had moved to Portland at the time, so those those guys gave those guys a chance to to pitch at a young age and they did awesome. So that was cool to go to those games as much as you know you wanted to be with them. I knew it was time for my family. I had to spend right started missing the boys' games, and I was like, you know, it's not healthy. And uh so so we finally, you know, we we watched them do well, and Andy and I went to pretty much every game, every home game we could get to. So it was it was fun to watch those guys. And and now those guys, that that group of kids are now coaching at Deering, yeah, which is kind of cool. That's another that's another side that you don't necessarily see like Andy Coolombs coaching at Westbrook Down.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's neat. Yeah. Are you optimistic about the future of high school baseball? Where do you see things going?
SPEAKER_03Well, I uh I want to say that we're moving in the right direction, and it's because I want to think that what we're doing at the Portland Junior Dogs in that league we're creating is gonna ramp up the level of play. Because I think right now you have in the league so far of what I've seen the last two years, you've got some really good players, and then you've got kids that are not I mean they're not keeping up. And that when I say not keeping up, it just looks like they're they're gonna they're gonna quit, they're gonna, you know, they're getting frustrated, they're just you know, it's it's a hard game. Yeah. I'm hoping that uh with these other programs that are allowing kids to kind of keep up with that group that's got the money to pay for money and time to pay for those uh those those high priced organizations, which have a place in in high school baseball. I truly believe that. Um but if you can get those, I always thought that you're you're only as good as your your 9, 10, 11, 12 hitters. Because if you know those injuries happen, those kids have to be ready to step into the depth. Yeah, absolutely. That depth has to be there. And uh I think the pitching's really good uh in high school baseball. I think that's there's some really good hitters, the kids that are able to do it all year long, but positionally, defensively, it struggles. They just there's not enough time indoors to work on those those skills, and so we it that hasn't gotten any better, and I think actually it's gotten worse because you only have you know a couple weeks before you start playing outside because you're in indoors the whole time. But uh I'm hoping that with the advent of these teams and this league that we're creating that hopefully will be statewide that you know you can get those ramp up those kids that that might be you know borderline varsity JV kids that can fill those roles and then you know varsity baseball will be back to where it was. And I when when I think about that question, because people ask me that all the time, I think about when baseball was the best in the city, in the state, and it was in the you know, oh three, oh four, oh five. I would agree. And that was none of those kids played in the wintertime. None of those kids. They were all multi-sport athletes. Most of them, yeah. Yeah, and they didn't go to these these, you know, these they went to some showcases. Like I know Ryan Flaherty went to showcases and his brother went to showcases and some of those kids, but they never played on any of these teams that are they're just playing games, they're not practicing, and practice is where it's where it's at. So even those kids that are playing on these teams, they're they're okay in the field. So if we uh I think if we can we're we're heavily focused on pitching and defense, hitting will come because you can hit all winter long. You can just all you need is a cage. Yeah. But um I'm I'm hoping that these these leagues that are popping up, these teams that are popping up that are low cost will ramp up the level of play for those those, you know, maybe less fortunate kids and less talented kids to gain some talent and confidence.
SPEAKER_00Right. You know, and and we look and looking at this season, it doesn't seem like there's a dominant team. I know you've seen a few of a few of the better teams so far, and you know, I've been able to cover a few games. And I mean it seems like it's gonna be a fun year because I think all these teams are gonna be beating each other and jockeying. You know, South Portland looks really good right now with their pitching, they're undefeated early on. You know, TA's gonna come on, Gorham's out to a really good start. Scarborough doesn't have the pitching dominance they had of a year ago, but they're you know, they're certainly still really good. You've got Chevers who's come from nowhere, three wins last year to get off to a great start. Uh so I mean there's a lot of good teams out there. And then even the teams that are that have struggled the last couple of years, like Portland and Deering and Westbrook and Wyndham, you know, there's a chance to to win some games, gain some confidence, right? And you know, from a Bulldogs perspective, what are you hoping to see that team do over the course of the year? Um, you know, chances are you're not gonna win a ton of games, but it seems like that program's heading in the right direction with their new coach.
SPEAKER_03Oh, there the the energy level in that dugout is is it's night and day compared to what it was last year. And I and a lot of it is you you had some seniors that were disenamored with baseball in general. A little bit of it is the energy of the the youthful coaching staff. Those guys, their energy definitely reflects on the kids and them getting excited about little things that they you know a kid hits a hard ground ball, the kid comes in and and you know, Tommy Joyce is sitting there giving them a high five and going, This is what you did awesome, you know, and really pumping them up. It's it's uh it's exciting to watch. And I think they're the they're they could surprise some people with Bailey on the mound. You you never know. And you know, Jonah Normando is is uh a really good pitching coach. He's you know charting pitches and watching tendencies and constantly in the in the game from from that standpoint. And Billy's actually his his baseball knowledge and IQ is well beyond what I thought it was. And I knew I knew it was good, but some of the decisions I've watched him make, you know, it's gonna the kids will pick up on that and they'll they'll get smarter because of it. And he's constantly coaching and the positivity is everything, building confidence in baseball is is 90% of the game. And I I I can see them surprising some teams down the road. And from what I've seen so far, you're spot on. There's it's it's all about pitching matchups. So if you get I'd put Bailey up against any any pitcher in the league right now, you know, he's he's a junior, big, big, strong kid, has throws three or four pitches really well, and uh, you know, you get a few timely hits and a few you know defensive plays behind you, and you never know when the wind. They almost beat Falmouth last night.
SPEAKER_00That would have been a huge step, no question.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's just that they were playing with confidence right through the end of the game. They didn't there was there was no defeatist attitude in there. And um the Wyndham, I think there I watched them them play. Windham was you know, they're gonna surprise some teams too because they're better than what what their record says they are. Yeah and uh I know he's working his butt off up there with a young group as well. What it what I've noticed in the league is very young. Yeah, it feels like my my second year and that Deering is a very, very young league, which you know the talent's down a little bit because of that. Just not a whole lot of there's not a very strong senior class, and we've been trying to figure out why that is, but uh you know, I imagine it's you know the end of COVID and yeah coming out of COVID.
SPEAKER_00Could have very well, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Babe Ruth disappeared, and there's a whole bunch of stuff that happened there. But uh but yeah, I mean any I I really feel like any team could be any team in this uh at this level with with the right pitching matchups. And you know, you get one rain out like we did last week, they're playing four games this week, and who knows what happens. It changes the end of the week. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You you've got your son John's a sophomore, yeah. Son Aiden's a freshman. Yeah, all of a sudden you're wearing your parent hat, and what's that been like? And I know you've they've been around baseball forever, you've coached them forever, but you know, to be in this role now and see them at the varsity, kind of on the big stage playing at Hadluck Field. That's so much fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. That's so much fun. I don't I I honestly don't, I've never I've never looked at stats like even with my own players. I I look at it to create a lineup to give my team the best chance to win, but you know, it's never I never look at stats, I always look at the smile on their face and just making sure that they're they're having fun and they're playing the game the right way. You're running off the field, if you're you're talking back to the umpire, you're gonna hear it from me from the stands, you know, that that sort of thing. But the rest of it, I I I can tell you this. My wife's had to hit me a couple times because I I believe it. I find myself saying things out loud, and uh I've had conversations with other coaches about this. I'm like, I because you're so used to coaching that group of kids that you find yourself coaching thinking that you're on the sidelines because you're so into the game, and I I've been this year I'm better, but you know, you uh you there's uh I mean there's really no better feeling than watching your kids have fun. And you know, last night they were playing first and second base, the two of them they were just dicking around with each other. It was so much fun to watch. It was you know, all their buddies are on the field with them. You can see them like doing fun things and calling each other names on the field. I mean, that's that's what it's all that's what I want all these junior dogs below to feel later on because it's they'll never forget that. They'll never forget those memories. So it's been it's been a cool experience so far.
SPEAKER_00And and it's just getting started. I mean, you get a couple more years of that, and and I imagine that this program's just gonna get better. Yeah. Um it this isn't a one-year thing, and you've got a young coaching staff that's kind of invested in in improvement, and you know, hopefully that bears fruit over the next couple years.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think so. I think so. I think they're they're they're into it, they're uh they're in it for the long haul too. It's getting through that first year of of kind of taking it on the chin, knowing where you're at. I if if you can get through that first year and build something over the summer, it that you know at the end of that you start seeing kids like punch the ball through the through the gap in the outfield, and you're like, you know, we did that. And that as a coach, that that gets you excited, and then the kids get excited because you're excited and they you know it's because you know it's a whole different atmosphere. And I I think you're right. I think they the little bit of maturing and they don't lose a whole lot, they lose two seniors next year, and so they got the same group of kids that are getting varsity level experience. So it could be could be fun to watch. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Let's end with this. You say you said that baseball wasn't your passion when you were younger, it certainly is now. Yeah. What what changed and what is it about the sport that you're so passionate about?
SPEAKER_03I think what changed uh my opinion of baseball was the the first time you see uh and this could probably get could have been any sport, but baseball of all sports is a game of failure. Yeah. Um this is this is uh I'll never forget, I still talk to this kid about it. So his dad is actually running for governor. Ed Crockett is Seth Crockett, I'll never forget it. Ed Flaherty used to run camps when uh when um when he was in his early days of uh coaching at USM and he'd grab all of his assistants and then he'd grab all of us that worked at four seasons in whatever it was, frozen wholes or whatever it was at the time, and we'd all do this camp, and it was up at Lyman Moor when those fields were still good. And uh this this little boy, Seth Crockett, who's a grown man now, he's an unbelievable runner now, and just very good athlete and good musician, all that stuff. Anyway, he uh he cried every time he got out. Every single time he'd swing and miss and he'd go in the dugout and he'd he'd sit in the corner and he'd cry. And I was like, what is going on with this this kid? And he was putting so much pressure on himself, and so I was like, I was working him all week, and I was like, Seth, you know, just pumping him up and trying to get him to, you know. Thursday came around, I was like, I was beat up. I was like, I don't know what to say to this kid. So I just like I'd go over and just sit with him, and you know, we I'd talk about you know what you can do next time you get up, try this and try that just trying to change his mindset and just get him to Friday comes along, and we're in the championship game, and uh the I'm talking about like nine-year-olds and ten-year-olds right right now. He hits a ground ball, and it was at the Lamon Moor, the big diamond at Lamin Moor. He hits a ground ball, and uh this it was bases loaded. Seth was getting up, and the team's like kind of putting their head down there, like, gosh, that rally. If he gets a hit, we win.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03And uh we win the like the championship. And uh, and I think Ed Ed had kind of moved some kids to help me. I grabbed one of the Ridland kids who were really good athletes. But either way, uh Seth gets up with the bases loaded two outs. If he gets a hit, we win win the whole thing. And so I brought him aside and I was like, Seth, this is your moment all week long. This is your moment. We've been talking about this the whole time. And he's like, Yeah, you know, his eyes are really big, and I can see his eyes starting to water. And he hits this ground ball to third base that just kind of died in the grass a little bit, and he got the first base, and we won the thing. He ran across the field and dove into my arms.
SPEAKER_00That's wonderful.
SPEAKER_03And I saw his mother was bawling on the sidelines, and you know, his mom's a teacher up at Lyseth, and and Ed comes over, he goes, That was that was the most amazing thing. Just the and I was like, That's it. Yeah, that's what I want to do. I want to feel that every single day. That actually drove me into teaching.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_03That that moment, because I I I got to the point where I had to do some other things before I could become a teacher, but I'll never I wrote about that in my my uh on my why I want to be a teacher in um the uh that Seth Crockett moment was easily the the best coaching moment to this day is probably one of the best coaching moments of my life. That's what got me into it.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's a good that's a great story and a great way to end this. But no, I I'm glad to hear that so many positive things are going on with baseball in the city and the area and keep up the good work. Thanks, buddy. Thank you.