COLUMN: Losing season not a loss

By Adam Riglian
May 30, 2010
Wareham Courier


There won’t be any postseason in Wareham this spring.
The baseball team’s 1-0 loss to Middleboro confirmed that fact. A postseason berth is the main goal for any high school program, and the most achievable. While a conference title depends on a season’s worth of high-level performances with little margin for error, the qualifying for the sectional tournament requires a team to finish at .500.
Regardless of what they do the rest of the way, the Vikings will finish short of that. But to call the season a failure would be at best an exaggeration and at worst an outright lie.
From the start, the Vikings were hamstrung by lineup inconsistencies, injuries and a case of senioritis. Those woes plagued them throughout the season and there was not much to be done about it.
They had a new coach in David Harrison, one who they were unfamiliar with and one who needed time to get through to his players. It was clear by the end of the season that he had, especially when the Vikings looked like a playoff team in their 5-1 stretch that propelled them into contention.
It’s tough that senior Mike Sullivan couldn’t make it to the tournament in his final season, just as it’s tough that classmate Ryan Vanderstaay had to watch most of the year from the bench with an arm injury and that junior Harry Irving was sidelined midway through the season with a broken foot.
While Sullivan, Vanderstaay and the rest of the seniors have to say goodbye to the program, they are leaving it in able hands. Sophomore Ian Searles has already shown himself to be a more than capable starting pitcher. He certainly has Apponequet’s number, allowing one run to the Lakers over 15 innings this season.
Sophomore Billy Peterson has flashed a strong arm at shortstop and found himself hitting in the three-spot for most of the season. Irving will be back next year, adding power in the cleanup role.
Another sophomore, Tyler Horton, pitched a gem against Old Rochester. When he’s not on the mound, he has played a solid first base in Irving’s absent and has the makings of a good varsity player for the next two seasons.
Sophomore Sean Conway proved to not only be a gamer this season, but showed versatility as well. In the preseason, he was pegged as an outfielder, but ended up taking over and excelling at catcher.
Freshman baseball coach Quirino DoCanto has done a good job with the freshman, already sending Steve Widner up to the varsity level. He didn’t disappoint, hitting a single in his first varsity game on May 21.
A team that started with ten returning senior lettermen and two more senior players, 12 in total, ended up being a development team that did just that. By season’s end, the dedicated seniors were still around, and the young players had progressed enough to give the Vikings a good run.
And that is something that they can all be proud of, tournament or not.