End of the line...

This is best served as a longer read as opposed to a text message, so feel free to revisit it when you have a few minutes.  If you're not interested in what comes next, no hard feelings.  Just know that if you need anything from me as a coach in the future, you know where to find me.

This season, like others before it, came with challenges.  

Vacations

Senior Week

Work

Family Obligations

Unexpected "Life"

Etc...

Other teams are dealing with the same issues, so no excuses there.  It was no different than any year before it, so as the coach, I did my best to put a competitive product on the field each day...literally.  For those counting at home, we played 19 games in 31 days.  That excludes weekends.  Weeks with 4, 5, and even 6 games during the weekdays?  That's one challenge that I hadn't faced for quite a while,due to the fact that HS baseball played for so long and there wasn't any down time going in to the legion season.  Without any time off to recharge batteries, so to speak, the season became long and grueling pretty quickly.  I knew you all had to be exhausted because halfway through the season, I was too.  If I felt that way there was no doubt in my mind that you felt the same way, but much much earlier.

On the other hand, the league was pretty good all around this year.  We faced some very good competition each game.  No game this year I felt was an easy win as it was in year's past.  All teams adjusted well to using wood and hit lots of balls on the screws.  My initial thought after just typing that was, "were we the team that everyone expected to beat?  Were we THAT team?"  I quickly got that thought out of my head because teams couldn't take us for granted and continued to throw their best at us; Leitzel from Sun/Norry, Michael from Line Mtn, and not once but twice we faced D1-bound DiValerio from Berwick.  We handled them all...some better than others on any given day of course.  

About 5 games in with this group, I asked you to COMPETE.  It took some time, but you eventually embraced that.  However, at times some still tried too hard to compete with each other...pass blame instead of taking ownership.  It doesn't matter now, but going forward and looking to next HS season, it will.  If you keep finding yourself competing against your teammates instead of with them, it will be a long and miserable season or you may find that your role isn't what you think it should be.  Team unity and chemistry sometimes matter a lot more compared to perceived talent and statistics.  

I always say that this game can teach you so much about life, in general.  One big lesson is that you will accomplish so much more as a group instead of as an individual.  Those of you underclassmen considering pursuing a collegiate baseball career at any level need to remember that.  College coaches see talent and mechanics, however, they're more interested in how you handle yourself, especially after failure.  You do remember that you're playing a game where if you're successful 30% of the time you're considered a "great player", right?  Just remember...you NEVER know who's watching...

In any event, there are some highlights to take away from this season.  There was a lot of fun that was had in a much more relaxed atmosphere.  There is some young talent that got a chance to play on the field at a higher level.  Usually, that's what happens during the summer season.  The future looks bright from a talent standpoint.  Out of an 18 man roster (more like 16 when you look at numbers) 10 players saw time on the mound.  Three of those pitchers struck out more batters than innings faced.  In addtion, as a staff, we struck out 116 batters with a collective ERA of 3.97.  To cap it off, there was a no-hitter thrown in there against the eventual #1 seed in the SVL tournament.  

In closing, thank you all for the commitment you made to this season.  Parents, players and siblings.  It was nice, even at tonight's game in Berwick to see just as many fans on our side as they had for a home game.  The support you provide to the group means a lot.

A special thanks to the coaching staff who made the treks with me and put together a game plan for each game and contingency plans when plan A didn't go as scheduled.  Be sure to check Game Changer for end of season stats if you're interested (Thanks Jeromy!).

I enjoy legion baseball for lots of reasons, but mainly because I get to allow some young men the chance to play just a few more games of organized baseball.  Thank you all for sharing part of your summer with me.  You never know when your last game will be your last game.  

Leave it all on the field!

Coach Mohr