April 13, 2025 • 51 mins
The unpredictable spring weather may have just begun, but Rome Free Academy's baseball and softball programs are already heating up the diamond with championship aspirations. In this special Sunday evening edition of Mohawk Valley Sports Watch, we dive deep with both program leaders who share remarkably similar visions: experienced rosters, tough non-conference scheduling, and unwavering belief in their players' abilities.
Baseball coach Evan Howard reveals how his team—featuring 10 seniors and standout sophomores like third-year catcher Dante Sparace—has evolved since nearly upsetting CNS in last year's sectionals. "This team's lineup from one to nine is complete. There's not an easy out," Howard explains, highlighting how his pitching staff now includes dedicated specialists who've embraced their specific roles. The team's mantra "clean your plate" reflects their determination to finish what they start in every game, practice, and playoff series.
First-year softball coach Emily Cowell brings unique perspective as a former RFA player herself, allowing her to connect with her athletes on a deeper level. Taking over an 11-win team that lost just one senior, Cowell describes her inheritance as "a silver platter" with talents like Kennedy Campbell, Lex Thompson, and power-hitter Sophia Tosti leading the charge. After testing themselves against state powerhouse Shenendehowa, Cowell's message to her team resonates: "The only team that's going to beat you is you."
Both programs face the gauntlet of the Tri-Valley League, where teams like Camden (20 wins last year), Whitesboro, New Hartford, Notre Dame and CVA ensure every game is a battle. Yet both coaches embrace this challenge, knowing it prepares their athletes for sectional intensity when May arrives.
Follow these teams' journeys throughout the season as they battle weather delays, compressed schedules, and fierce competition in pursuit of sectional glory. Tune in tomorrow night at 8PM for our new series "Beyond the Game" with special guest Jim Tracy!
Thank you for listening!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the Rockpile Podcast, the show where
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Touchdown, this is yourplatform for authentic
conversations with athletes,coaches, teams, business leaders
and so much more.
Every episode dives deep intothe highs, the lows and the
(00:30):
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triumph.
Ready, Ready, Whether you'rechasing your dreams, overcoming
adversity or simply looking forinspiration, you've come to the
right place, so let's climbtogether.
This is the Rock Pile.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
There we go.
It'll probably help if I bringmyself on the screen.
Welcome to the Mohawk ValleySports Watch.
A special edition here tonight,a new time, 8 o'clock pm
Eastern.
I hope everybody had a goodweekend.
Hopefully everybody just wounddown from watching the Masters.
And congrats to Rory McIlroy.
Man, did he blow a five-shotlead, but it was back and forth
Fun to watch.
(01:26):
Got a great local show for youtonight.
If you're just tuning in, we'regoing to be talking RFA baseball
with Coach Evan Howard and atthe bottom of the hour we'll
talk some RFA softball as well,which I'm excited.
I think the girls had a doubleheader today.
I think they played down inclifton park against shenandoah
(01:46):
um and, I think, gildan.
I think they lost both games,but those are two really good
teams.
They went out and played.
So we'll talk to coach emilycowell here in just a little bit
.
We'll talk to evan howard aswell.
So without further ado.
I don't know if we're gonnahave coach medesis on the stat
man, but I do got pegs on.
He's been waiting in the greenroom pegs.
What's going on?
Partner?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
hey, what's going on?
Happy sunday, happy mastersunday right man.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I'll tell you what man it is.
Uh, I, I caught the last, likefive or six holes, yep, and as
I'm watching, I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm a big phil guy.
I love mickelson, I wanted tosee some drama and I'm like rory
got the five shot lead.
I'm like no way he's got tocollapse, yep, and he collapsed
yeah, yeah, I was watching thatmy parents saw as well.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And uh, I was like, oh, here it comes.
And then I had to come backhome.
I said I want to make sure Igot time home in time for this.
And uh, I put the tv back onand I watched the end of it.
I'm like, but what it was greatto see.
It was great to see him win.
Um, you know, I've, uh, I Ialways said I don't watch a lot
of golf, but I, I watch themasters, I watch uh, I don't
(02:49):
watch all of it, but I do tunein.
It's just, I don't know it's,it's.
We all talk about it like thatmusic comes on and it's like it
feels like spring is here and itit's, it's an introduction to
spring and um, but watching itis fun.
It was, it was great to watch,as a, you know, and it never
fails.
The drama never fails.
I mean, it's always.
You get to that back.
Uh, three holes and all of asudden, the magic corner yeah,
(03:14):
the magic starts.
It's amazing, um.
So congratulations to mariomackinac, where I mean he
deserved it.
And you saw um just the.
You can almost see the like itall come off his back after he
put.
He put that, uh put in and hejust dropped to his knees.
And you can almost see the likeit all come off his back after
he put.
He put that, uh put in and hejust dropped to his knees and
you can just see like years ofhard work and everything just
you know, come off his back.
It's just like you know.
(03:34):
We always look at theseathletes and we say, no, you
know what they.
They're, they're athletes andthey're they're um drama and
this, that and everything, butat the end of the day,
they're're they're just like usman.
They work so hard for somethingand then all of a sudden you
see it come to light and just agreat moment.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So Well, amen, corner man 13, 14 and 50, maybe the
three toughest holes in in golf.
And you know, as I was watchingit and in regulation on 18, I
think he had like a four or fivefooter and I thinking to myself
, like when I go play golf andit doesn't happen a lot like my
hands like literally are shaking, I get so nervous, like when I
get close I can't imagineputting in front of all those
(04:10):
people and when he missed that,I'm like justin rose is sitting
just waiting.
Justin rose had the best round,I think, of the day.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I think he shot 66 yeah, I feel bad for him too.
I mean, man, like you know, youhave a chance to to win the
masters and you're right there,and then it just gets taken away
from me like that.
It's like that's got to betough.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But but it was definitely a fun day.
I'm happy for uh roy.
I know he was the uh.
I think he was the fan favorite.
I mean, the galleries werefollowing him and the shambo.
People were trying.
I think they were hoping it'dbe a little bit closer with him.
And uh, rory, coming downstretch, he just Bryson didn't
play well, no.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And that's what my I was watching.
Like I said I was watching myparents' house.
My parents don't really followgolf or anything.
My mom was like all thosepeople are there to watch those
guys golf.
I said yeah, and then my dad'slike how much will these guys
make to do this?
So I looked it up while theywere actually golfing just to
see, and the winner gets $4.2million.
Second place gets like $2.1, Ithink.
And then like I think it's likeI can't remember exact numbers
(05:13):
now Like the 30th place finishis like I think $100,000.
And the 50th place is like$50,000 or something to that.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So the winner not only gets the money, so they get
the.
You're right, I think it's like4.2 mil.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
They get the green jacket.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
They get lifetime tickets and I think, like Rory,
can play in it now for like thenext 20 years I think he's
automatically qualified for itand then next year, at the
players the dinner, he gets todesign what the dinner is, which
I think is really cool.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And one other thing that's really cool.
I think Tiger Woods years agowhen he won it, I think he had
like hot dogs, hamburgs, like acookout type style and you can
design whatever you want.
But I think what's fascinatingis they show you like the menu,
like all weekend in Augusta atthe event.
Like a bottle of water is onlylike a dollar.
Like they have sandwiches.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Like water is only like a dollar, like they have
sandwiches, like the prices arelike so dirty the prices are
really good.
I see I've seen some of that.
And how do they keep thoseprices so low at augusta?
I mean you think they cancharge whatever they?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
want, I go to the utica odd to buy a hot dog and a
drink.
I end up spending 15, 20 bucks.
Right, I can go to augusta andwatch the masters and what does
it cost?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
what does it cost to go to the masters?
I guess, guess, if you wantedto go and get a ticket or a pass
to go see the Masters, whatdoes it cost you?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I don't know.
It's a good question.
Hold your thought we got CoachHoward on.
Let me bring Coach on with ushere.
Let's see, let me oh, we don'tlike that view Hold on Coach.
There we go.
How are there we go, how wedoing coach.
Good, how you guys doing.
(06:48):
Tonight I'm doing fantastic,good to uh, good to have you on
talk some baseball here.
I was gonna say this morning,but I'm not used to doing this
thing at night.
Did you watch any golf today,coach?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I watched a little bit and I was doing practice and
we had some pictures and someoutside work going on, so I
peeked in at the playoff alittle bit awesome.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
well, coach, let's talk some baseball with you guys
.
Another season upon you guys,and I won't spend too much time
on last season, but last year,you guys, you win 12 games.
Last year you took CNS to thewire in the sectionals, you guys
fell four to three and you guyslose some seniors, but it's a
whole new team for you this year.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I think last year was definitely a step
forward in retrospect, kind oflike competing outside the
Mohawk Valley.
We had a big win over Beeville.
We did beat CNS in the regularseason and we were, like I said,
three outs away from defeatingthem there in the quarter.
So you want to take much from aloss, but we built off that
this year.
I think the guys are hungry.
(07:44):
We did lose some big piecesfrom last year's team, but we've
got some guys who are reallyready to fill those spots and
some young guys.
I think they're going to bepretty impressive as well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And Coach that TVL last year and I think just about
every year has been tough.
I mean Utica, new Hartford,camden was good last year.
You guys are right up there atthe top.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
How tough is the TVL?
It's a grind every day.
You know obviously, being oneof the larger schools in the TVL
, you're most likely going toget the other team's best
pitcher on that day.
You know they're trying to comeafter the big schools, so we've
got to be ready every day.
We can't sleep, you know.
We can't let your guard downand you've got to go play every
game like it is, no matter whothe opponent is in the other
(08:28):
dugout.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
And Coach, sometimes you've got teams that come back
with inexperience in a youngteam and you've got to rely on a
couple veterans.
This is more of a senior-ledteam for you, a lot of
experience back.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, we have 10 seniors on this year's team, so
there's a lot of experience back.
Yeah, we have 10 seniors, uh,on this year's team, so there's
a lot of leadership from that uh.
But it's kind of the funny part, we don't have a huge junior
class but we have some somesophomores who are really going
to play some big parts, and Iknow we've only played one game,
but those guys really showedout in that one game so far.
So I think it's a good mixtureof some upperclassmen but some
(09:03):
younger guys, guys, some youthin there as well.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
And coach, who are some of the guys this year, some
of the younger guys that we'llbe hearing a lot from this year.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Obviously, the two guys you're going to hear a lot
about is Dante Sparace.
It's going to be his third yearbehind the plate and he's only
a sophomore.
I mean.
So he's stepped up as far ashis play on the field, but just
his leadership role.
I mean he's still only a 10thgrader, but he's a third-year
(09:32):
player.
Braden Meeks we brought uphalfway through the year last
year.
He's just a spark plug at thetop of the lineup.
He just finds the way to grindout at bats, base hits, bunt
singles, walks, and then he getson base and he just runs the
bases wild.
You know I don't like to givegreen lights to many guys, but
he definitely has it.
You know he's a guy that justsets the table.
He brings energy, sometimesgood, sometimes bad, but like
you can't deny the way he playsthe game and the amount of
(09:53):
energy he comes with.
So those two guys are from lastyear's squad.
And then we got, you know, markBarone, a 10th grader, as well
as Nick Malarzo.
Those guys are both going toplay a lot of time on the
infield.
So those are some excitingyoung pieces to mix in.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, I was just saying the other day.
I said you know, if you're abaseball player in New York
State, why the hell are we stillhere with this weather?
We don't get outside enough andI'm like sitting here saying
you guys are in a gym and thenall of a sudden the season
starts and before and before youknow it, a blink of the eye,
the season's over.
It just goes so fast.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It was funny because, you know, obviously right there
in winter break we got hit withall that snow and I'm thinking
we're never going to be outside,and then it went quick.
We were fortunate enough tohave quite a few days over at
Accelerate, but at Accelerate wewere outside probably five or
six days, which was probablyahead of the schedule years past
.
But then you get set back witha week, like we just had.
You know, we play a game andthen we go inside for four days.
(10:46):
So it's tough, it's a grind,and that's what we talk about on
the team, about, you know,grinding it out and staying
positive.
You know, because, like yousaid, baseball in the Northeast
is not the easiest.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
And Coach, how tough is it sometimes for the younger
kids that come up.
I know you've got anexperienced team, but how tough
is it for some of the youngerkids that don't have a lot of
experience coming up when theyget a chance to play?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It's tough because, like you said, these guys it's
gotten easier, I would say thelast couple of years because a
lot of these guys are playingcompetitive travel ball.
So they're seeing some goodpitching, they're seeing higher
level play, as opposed to somefarm leagues and things in the
past when that was the only kindof avenue for summer ball.
But definitely making that jumpfrom JV to varsity is just huge
(11:31):
, especially, like you said, thepitching velocity coming at you
, your reaction time and justthe way things happen in the
field.
Things are so much quicker.
But, like I said, the youngguys that we have, and even some
of those juniors, the newplayers, they've grasped on
really quick.
They're quick learners.
So I think the transition isgoing to be smoother than maybe
in other years.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
And Coach talk to us too.
As the head varsity coach atthe lower levels, I think you
guys had like 45 or 46 kids thattried out for the modified
level, so that's really goodnumbers.
So you've got to be prettyhappy with the program numbers
for the modified level.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So that's really good numbers.
So you've got to be prettyhappy with the program numbers.
Yeah, the numbers have beenreally good.
Like you said, we're one of thefew schools that still do have
two modifieds.
Up until two years ago we stillhad a freshman team and I think
we would still have thatfreshman team for a lot of those
ninth graders who maybe justweren't ready to make that
junior varsity jump.
But the thing with the ninthgrade team is less and less
schools have it, you know.
So we were traveling out toSyracuse and playing the same
(12:27):
three or four schools three orfour times and you know, it
seems like every year a teamwould cut down and now you're
down to only four schools thathad that freshman team.
So it was making it tougher andtougher even to try to schedule
12 to 14 games for that groupof kids.
So that was tough.
But the fact that we still havetwo, two modified programs, um,
unfortunately we did have tomake a few cuts, even at the JV
(12:49):
and varsity level.
You never want to do that, butthe fact that these kids are
coming out is is is good.
Um, I was just talking to someneighbors.
They say the numbers that thelittle leagues are booming, you
know.
So I think you know baseball inin Rome is in a good spot for a
few years to come.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Coach, what's going to separate this team from last
year?
And you know, I know we talkedabout the experience, but what's
this team bring that lastyear's team might not have
brought?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I think this team's lineup from one to nine is
complete.
There's not an easy out.
I think, with Bobby Jock andMikey Catlinato, those two guys
are our top two horses.
They did it last year asjuniors, as being kind of the
ace one A, one B of the staff,so those guys are going to be a
year stronger as far as justhaving experience.
(13:37):
Both those guys have gottenbigger and stronger, which is
obviously showing on the field.
And, like I said, we have acouple other pitchers that you
know I've stepped up in theoffseason.
I think this is the first yearI've had five guys Rock on my
team who are okay callingthemselves POs pitchers only,
and that's never happened to me.
(13:58):
Like there's always the guy like, oh, I pitch and I play first,
or I pitch and I do this, andit's like these kids have bought
in, like play first or I pitchand I do this, and it's like
these kids have bought in, likethey understand what their role
is.
I got three or four of those POs.
They know they're just a reliefguy, you know, but they come
about their business every dayjust like everybody else.
They put their work in, they gothrough their arm care, they
have separate programs that theydo, but it's like these guys
have bought in.
So I think that that alone wetalk all the time about you know
(14:21):
, knowing your role, doing yourjob, kind of our slogan this
year is clean your plate.
So what that means is finishthe job, whatever you take, and
start, finish it, you know, andthat's kind of what we're trying
to build all the way downthrough.
So you know we're going tofinish what we start, you know,
and that's these guys havebought in.
And, like I said, I just thinkthe mindset so far has been
really, really good.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Coach, I know the non-conference schedule.
You'll play some good teamsnon-conference before you get
into league play.
Talk to us a little bit aboutsome of the non-conference teams
.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, we go.
Actually, tomorrow we have ahome opener with New Hartford
and then we go on the road toShaker.
We have a couple of Division Ikids at Shaker and then we also
have Colony coming in on GoodFriday, who's always a battle,
and then you mix in some CNSsand some B-villes in there and,
like I said, that non-conferenceisn't really a slouch.
(15:09):
They've kind of changed the waywith the sectional seedings.
Years before you were alwaysseeded based on your league
schedule, you know.
So you could get some of yourreserves in the game and some of
those non-conference games, andthat has now changed.
I know it's been a few years nowwhere non-league games is just
as good as league games, youknow.
So you can say, well, it's anon-league game but you still
(15:31):
got to go out and win it right,because it's still going to
affect your sectional seatingand your sectional place.
So there's no nights off.
You can't, like you said,sometimes you'd like to empty
the bench and give guys you knowextra at bats, but you got to
go out and try to win every gamebecause, like I said, it comes
down to sectional seedings.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well, you kind of answer my next question.
As I say, I know it's nice toget off to a good start, but
it's also nice to play good latein the season.
But really and truly, from whatyou just described, there's no,
there's no room for, uh, for,for slow starts.
Right, you guys got to get offto a hot start and just keep
playing good baseball.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, and I was like you said.
We played a week ago, friday,up there in Lowville and even
though they're a class B, Ithink the last two years they've
been in the sectional final.
So they were no slouch and Iwas.
I was really impressed, justbased on the temperature, how we
hit the baseball.
The ball was just zinging offour bats.
I think we had 13 hits and nota single one of them was a
blooper or an easy hit, and thenwe probably had six or seven
(16:26):
really loud outs, you know.
So I was really happy with that.
I was kind of disappointed thatwe had to go back inside.
I wanted to keep those batschurning, but hopefully they're
ready to go for tomorrow andfour games this week.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So, Coach, what's this team got to do to make a
deep run?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
to not only get in the sectionals and make a deep
run through sectionals make adeep run to not only get into
sectionals and make a deep runthrough sectionals.
We just got to believe, right,we got to believe we have the
guys.
It's not that we don't have thepower or we don't have the
skilled guys.
We have guys just like yourCNSs and your B-villes and your
CBAs.
It's just getting over thathump and, like I said, last year
we made strides.
We had a couple of nicenon-conference or non-league
(17:02):
wins and, like you said, we werethree outs away from moving on
to the semis there at CNS.
So we just kind of got to getover that hump.
I think the kids are starting tobelieve and buy in.
Like you said, you bring oversome experienced guys from the
basketball team as well as thehockey team and those guys have
had some postseason success.
So I think that you know justbeing able and being in those
(17:23):
situations and and, and you know, winning in some of those big
games, I think it's contagious.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So, obviously, having some hockey guys and some
basketball guys, I think it'sgoing to help us hopefully get
over that hump when, whensectionals come, you know we
definitely had a good winter,winter season here in Rome and
hopefully we'll be able to carrythat over here to spring with
the spring sports for sure.
But, coach, you're always funto talk to.
I appreciate you taking time ona Sunday night here and not in
the morning, so good luck to you.
I'm sure we'll see you on thediamond.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I appreciate it.
I was hoping there'd be a Metsquestion, but we got no Mets
talk today.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I see they're wondering.
The Jags and I are Yankees andI think Coach Medes is his
Yankees too.
I'm waiting for him to jump on,but he's at AU, so I'm not sure
if we're going to get himtonight.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I'll razz him tomorrow at school.
Hey guys, I appreciate youhaving me and look forward to it
again.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Awesome.
Thanks, coach.
Good luck, coach.
See you guys.
Thank you, there you are, pags,I got you all right, but uh,
yeah, he's, he's done a good job.
Coach howard's done a good job.
And I know when we talk to tonick all the time we always talk
a lot about the, the youthsports, and one thing that's
(18:32):
really nice about the youthsports as I was obviously
talking to coaches, they gotgood numbers at the lower levels
yeah, those numbers that hementioned, I mean those are
great numbers, I mean, and totalk about even the Little
League, that's what I guess itwas good to hear that he's tuned
into the Little League, becausethat's really where it all
starts.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I mean, those kids are going to.
You know, if you can build theinterest in Little League and
then those kids come through,that's going to make your
program so much stronger.
I mean, we've obviously seen itwith the basketball program, um
.
I think that's the key tosuccess and I think that's why,
that's why Rome sports um hadbeen good throughout the years,
because they build those feederprograms.
Uh gets kids interested early onand then, and then they
(19:11):
continue to develop uhthroughout.
So it sounds like uh, he's gotsome really good players in
there.
I mean, some of the names thatI recognized uh from hockey I
think spruce was the goalie foruh, for rfa, if I'm yep, I'm not
wrong um.
So those are, those are, thoseare great athletes.
I mean so you're, you know it's, and it's nice to see, because
a lot, of, a lot of theseathletes sometimes, you see, you
know hockey players andbasketball players who kind of
(19:32):
uh we've talked about thisbefore where they they stick to
one sport.
It's good to see that they're,they're, they're venturing off
the other sports.
Uh, because's good for them,it's good for the kids and it's
good for the entire school,obviously, to see these kids out
there playing.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Baseball just goes so fast.
It really does, it really does.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
I mean, you know I'm helping out with Modified for
Westmoreland.
It's like we're in the gym andyou know we got one team from
Modified, a lot of kids, and youknow, know, just being in the
gym and you just pent up and youcan tell the kids just want to
get out there, uh, and theweather doesn't look great.
I don't think for the comingweek of the some snow in the
(20:09):
forecast.
I think so, before you know it,you're, you're into play, uh,
playing games already, and thenthe season's over.
Uh, what early june is usually,uh, when it's over.
So you really have, if you'relucky, probably a good month to
get the games.
And it's tough because then youstart getting rain, outs and
everything and it's really toughhere in the Northeast to get
the baseball games in, which iswhy you see a lot of the teams
head out to Myrtle Beach, headout to Florida to get some games
(20:31):
in before the season starts.
A lot of these teams have donethat in the past.
I know Proctor did it this year.
They raised some money to getdown to Florida or Myrtle beach
or wherever it was.
But it's hard Cause that's alot of, it's a lot of money to
raise to get the teams to go outthere.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, listen, if you're a baseball guy in New
York state, it's gotta be reallyhard.
And I think of like the Tylershops of the world who we've had
on the show numerous times.
Yeah, that's, that's in theminor leagues.
I mean, there's been guys fromthis area that have floated
around playing single a ballthat you know with, even with
the diamond dogs, Pete, whereyou're at.
And I say to myself, like, ifyou want to play baseball and
(21:08):
you're from New York state, Idon't know, I don't know how you
make it.
Well, you don't play enoughbaseball.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Well, I think that you see a lot of the.
I think a lot of these teamsplay in these AAU-type circuits
where they go off and play inother places because you have to
.
I mean, you can't just ifyou're just going to stick to
playing baseball in New YorkState.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You're not going to get enough.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, there's no way.
I mean, and the thing is wehave some facilities here we're
lucky where you have Accelerate,you have Elevate and then you
have I don't know if it's stillopen, but the one that was in
Herkimer that the coach for theHerkimer Generals had for a
while.
He had a hitting facility downthere and a lot of kids put a
(21:51):
lot of time in those things.
But that's the thing.
Like you know, tyler Schaaf andthose guys who have made it
from this area if you're reallydedicated to it and you want it
bad enough, you'll findopportunities to play and that's
what you have to do.
I mean, you've got to go out andfind places to play and
unfortunately for a lot of kidsthat costs money, right, I mean,
if you're going to get involvedin these travel teams and stuff
(22:12):
, you know it makes it.
That's what saddens me a littlebit about some of this stuff is
like you know, know you havekids who are great athletes but
come from from homeless, whomaybe could not, cannot afford
that the extra money and theywant to play school ball and
those are the kids I think thatdon't have the same
opportunities because you knowto fork up the money to go play
travel ball.
(22:33):
Uh, for some of these teams,for some of these uh families,
it's a lot.
It's a lot of money, yeah youknow, you have your kids
involved in a lot and and youknow, just just just even not
even being in the travel stuff,just being in some of the local
stuff, um, it adds up, it addsup well, I was just saying the
other day to my son becausehe'll he'll be on one of the
(22:54):
modified teams here in rome.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
So I think their first game is like may 3rd or
4th.
They play notre dame at notredame, and then it's literally
like the month of may.
They play like monday,wednesday, fridays, and you know
three games a week, you're donein one month.
Right, that's not, that's,that's barring.
You know no rain, outs oranything, because you get it you
get a week of rain, um, andthat that moves.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
You know that gives you three games, so you have to
reschedule somewhere yeah, it'sgood to happen, right, it's just
brutal and then and then it'snot one of those things where
you get, you know, you get aweek of rain and then you have a
good stretch of good weather.
It's.
You know how it is around here,it's either it's, it's all or
none.
It's either you're gonna getsome great weather for a couple
weeks or you're gonna get rain,rain, rain, for you know a bunch
(23:39):
of a bunch of weeks where it'sgonna, it's gonna hamper the
season and it's it's toughbecause the kids, it hurts the
kids at the end of the day.
You know, I mean you can onlytry to reschedule so many games
and you know the double headersdon't, you know the kids don't
get it.
Whenever you get into a doubleheader you lose game time.
You don't, you don't, you don't.
You don't make up those gamesreally.
I mean you might play a doubleheader but you're not getting
(24:00):
the same amount of innings outthere, especially with some of
the new rules for modified.
I've been hearing that they'retrying to keep the games to
about two hours now, which isgood and bad.
I mean, some of the modifiedgames that I've been involved
with are brutally long, but atthe same time, you know you need
these kids out there playingball.
I mean that's where they'regoing to learn.
(24:21):
You know the game experience iswhere they're going to learn,
and I think some of theseumpires are vouching for you
know two-hour games and there'sa five-run limit now, I think
per inning, which again is gooda little bit, because I've been
involved in some games in thepast where it's gotten out of
hand.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But at the same time you're limiting the kids
opportunities out there too.
So why we wait for uh coachemily to jump on talk some rfa
softball?
We got a little bit of time.
I want to get into nico uh, thequarterback from, I guess you
can say his, his old team intennessee.
Former team uh was looking atfour million dollars and you
know, I guess, tip your hat tojosh heupel in the university
saying you saying there's nobodythat's bigger than the team.
Don't get me wrong.
He was, I think, an averagequarterback for Tennessee last
(25:10):
year.
I think a lot of expectationsfor him coming in for Tennessee
another year in the program.
Now I'm hearing that Ohio State, of course that has the money.
Ohio State, oregon and, I justheard, colorado are three of the
teams potentially interested inhis services $4 million.
(25:30):
I don't think he's going to bethe only one, pete.
I think we're going to startseeing this trend.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I think you're going to start seeing more of it.
But good for Tennessee forsaying no, right?
Because I heard the same thingwhen I, when I heard about it
and I started seeing like I'mlike where's this kid rank?
I I think he said that they was, he was the sixth best
quarterback in that league.
Um, so they probably said youknow what, thanks, but no thanks
.
And plus, I think the way itwas done, uh, the day before the
(25:58):
day of spring practice, yeah,um, that says lot about that kid
.
You know what I mean.
Unfortunately, like, andunfortunately, other teams are
going to go out and go after him.
But good for Tennessee forsaying no, and I just wish that
other teams will look at thatand say you know what, maybe
this is not the type of kid wewant on our team, but it's not
going to happen that way.
You know there's going to be ateam out there that's going to
(26:19):
be willing to give him the moneyhe's going to get what he wants
.
But I think that's what youneed to do.
You need to have more and moreteams that just say no to this.
I mean, I just saw something forDuke.
I mean the Knieppel kid.
I think someone offered him $5million to go somewhere else and
he said, no, he's staying atDuke, so good for him.
But, um, so good for him.
(26:42):
But I mean the landscape thatwe're in right now.
I mean that's what's going tohappen.
I mean I, I think what startedthis is I.
I I heard something thattennessee got got about eight
million dollars in nil money, um, so he basically said, well, I
want four million of it.
So I mean, do you blame thekids for for, for max and all
how much they, you know, up upin the ante somebody's gonna pay
him.
Ohio state's gonna pay someone'sgonna pay him right now, he's
(27:02):
gonna get his money and he'sgonna be.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I I think he's.
There's gonna be more of theseguys that you're gonna see that
they're not college athletesanymore, it's pro sports no,
it's pro sports, um.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
But you know, I was having this conversation with a
bunch of friends this past weekat work and I was like you know
what do you do?
Do you?
You know the?
You set a salary cap, which Ithink is a good idea, right, but
at the same time, you know,setting a cap does that hurt the
big schools?
I mean a school like Alabamaand Oregon who has the money
right?
Do we just say you know what?
We're not gonna set a salarycap, go out and get as much
(27:35):
money as you can for NIL.
And then what will happen isyou're gonna end up having just
like society, right, society.
You're going to have the upperclass, the middle class and the
poor, and it's like, well, youknow what, if you create that
kind of system, then you'regoing to have the best of the
best in the upper class playingagainst each other and beating
(27:56):
each other up and going afterthe money.
You're going to have the middleclass, which is probably like a
Syrac syracuse right, wherethey can't get as much money as
in alabama, but they're going todominate the middle class.
And then you're going to havethe lower end teams who just
can't raise that kind of moneyand they're going to do fine in
their area.
So I go both ways, like a capkind of levels the playing field
(28:17):
.
But does it really?
Does it really level theplaying field?
For you know, if alabama can,if alabama has the same money,
can bring in the same money as asyracuse, right, is it really a
level playing field?
I still, I still think alabama,you know, has the advantage
because that money that theycan't spend in nl they're going
(28:38):
to spend elsewhere.
They're going to, they're goingto improve facilities, they're
going to do more things at theirfacility to lure those kids to
Alabama.
So they might not get it in NILmoney but they might say, well,
come to Alabama, because lookat the facilities we have here
over Syracuse.
And so I think it's the samething.
You're still creating thatsociety system of, you know, the
(28:59):
upper class, the middle classand the lower class.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
All right, hold your thought it's no different in
football, Because I got CoachEmily waiting to get in the
wings here.
She's probably saying we don'twant to listen to you guys talk
football here.
Hold on, I got to change thesesettings around because that
doesn't look good and we got toget you.
There you are, Coach.
I got to get you front andcenter.
Never mind college football.
Talk right, it's softballbaseball time.
How are you?
Speaker 5 (29:23):
I'm good, thank you, how are you guys?
Well, I'm doing good.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I'm not used to doing this thing at night.
Normally these are done in themorning, so I appreciate it,
because you probably just gotoff a bus not long ago, right
the long day today, at CliftonPark.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
Yep, yep, we were out playing two top teams in the
state.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We faced off against Shenandoah and Gilderland today.
So we'll get to that part in aminute.
But let me just start withyourself.
I know you've been involved inthe program.
This will be your first year asthe head coach, taking over for
Coach Jerry, who I always laughbecause when I get him on this
show I barely get any words inbecause he just always talks and
talks, and talks.
So this is going to be a littlebit different.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
But what's different about you compared to you know,
taking over for Jerry and what'sgoing to look different.
I think the biggest thing isjust you know I love Coach Jerry
.
He's a great role model for me.
Great coach Guy really knowshis X's and O's.
He's a great role model for me.
Great coach Guy really knowshis X's and O's.
But I think the differencebetween me and him is, you know,
I was the girls, you know, adecade and a half ago, so I know
exactly what they're feeling.
I know exactly what.
(30:31):
You know what's in their mind.
And you know, the thing that Itake the most pride in as a
coach is I feel like I have mythumb on the pulse of the team
and I think the biggest thing isjust relatability, probably.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So, coach, last year this is a team that won 11 games
, but it's also a team that Ithink they only lost one senior
off of last year's team.
So I think you guys bring backa lot of juniors and seniors, so
it's an experienced team andsimilar to Coach Howard.
I just said he's got a lot ofjuniors and seniors, so it's an
experienced team and similar toCoach Howard.
I just said you know he's got alot of experience this year on
the baseball team, similar toyou.
So, coming into your first yearas the head coach, I know
(31:09):
you've been involved in theprogram.
But how much does that help?
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Oh my gosh.
Honestly I keep saying this toeverybody that's been talking to
me about this I feel like I'vebeen handed a silver platter and
it's my job to to take it anddo the right things with it.
Um, honestly, we've got a verytalented team.
We're not short for talent.
We're not short of experience.
It's just a matter of takingall the pieces and being able to
(31:36):
put it together at the righttime, in the right way, and and
we're going to get there.
I can promise you that.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
And Coach, last year.
It's a team that you know.
They made it all the way to thesemifinals and ran into a
really good Liverpool team.
And again, similar to baseballtoo, I keep saying the
non-conference schedule.
You guys playing the TVL with anon-conference schedule.
You talked about the two gamestoday against a really good Shen
team and a really goodGilderland team.
So that gives you guys a lot ofexperience coming into the
(32:03):
season.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat and how much it's going to
help you.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean I said this to the girlsbefore the games today.
You know I said don't feelsorry for yourself.
You know we're getting on a busfor two-plus hours to go across
the state to play two amazingteams that are going to set us
up for this conference play.
We've got a big game and wehope to make a statement
tomorrow against New Hartford,actually against a former
(32:30):
co-coach of mine.
I coached with Dan Salteri atHerkimer for many years.
That guy is like a father to me.
He's known me since I was a kid.
He's seen me play as a playerand early in my coaching career.
So it's going to be kind of abittersweet moment.
You know I'm going to give hima hug before the game, but then
I'm going to put my blinders onand we're going to go to work.
But no, I'm excited.
(32:54):
You know we learned a lot today.
Shen's an awesome team and, man, we hung with them for the
whole game game.
You know just a couple ofunfortunate plays and a couple
of times where we were trying toproduce, where it just didn't
go our way.
But we hung with them and youknow they're the last five years
.
I'm pretty sure they made it tothe state.
Uh, final four, the last, youknow four out of the five years
(33:16):
and to drop only five to two.
I think we can hang our hatproud on that one.
And and Gilderland again, youknow they're, they're an awesome
team.
We lost in that game too, but wesaw so many good things.
We had a lot, of, a lot ofpower and potential in the
circle.
Today.
That's super promising becauseyou know you got to have a good
(33:39):
battery in order to win softballgames for sure.
So I excited, I think we'reready to go and I think the I
think the TVL is going to begoing to be surprised to see us
yeah, and I was just going tosay the TVL I mean you got
Camden a year ago, I think won20 games.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I mean Whitesboro, new Hartford, I think they each
won 15, 16 games.
I mean Notre Dame, pags, youralma mater, I think they won 15
games.
And then CVA, who?
I think they won 13 or 14 games.
So everybody in that conferenceis really good.
So it's a really tough schedulefrom start to finish.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
I take that as a blessing,though, because you know the
worst thing that could happenand I've experienced this as a
player you know when you haveyour conference games and and
you're blowing teams away andyou feel like you just don't
have the competition all seasonand all of a sudden you get to
the post season and you getspanked, you know.
So I take it as a blessing thatthat we get to see adversity,
uh, from the beginning of theseason all the way through to
(34:29):
the end, and it just sets us upfor good postseason play.
It just gets us prepared.
We get to see some adversity,we get to see how our team
handles adversity, and we've gota lot of talented teams in the
area that are going to do somereally good things in the
softball field, and it's goingto really be awesome to see how
we match up against it.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I think, if my math is right, you might have 10
girls out of 12 on your teamthat are upperclassmen.
I think you got four seniorsright, six juniors on the team,
I think, a couple sophomores, um, if my numbers are right.
But talk to us about some ofthe girls, some of the names
that we'll be hearing throughoutthe season, and is there a
couple girls, um, you know thatyou would say, well, they're
(35:10):
coming in with expectations, butyou know, I guess you can say
that is there somebody that'sunexpected, that you're really
looking forward to seeing howthey perform this year.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
In all honesty, I come in and my thought process
is everybody's got a clean slate.
You know this is the first yearof our future and coming in as
a new coach.
I want the girls to know thatyou know this is the first year
of our future and coming in as anew coach.
I want the girls to know that.
You know your experience isgreat but every single year,
every single game, you got toshow up.
You know there's players thathave, you know, started every
(35:44):
single game their entiresoftball varsity career for us
and if they don't produce, youknow there's people chomping at
the bit behind them.
We've got a lot of greatplayers.
You know.
First ones off the top of myhead right now is our first five
hitters.
They really, these last twogames, have really showed up.
You know we've got KennedyCampbell, junior center fielder,
(36:05):
leadoff hitter.
She's a slapper, she's a toughout man.
There's there's nothing shecan't do.
You know she can drop a bunt.
She can do a soft slap in justthe right spot, get it stuck in
that Bermuda Triangle.
She can hard slap and punch itpast the infield like nobody's
business and if I want to, I canhave her swing straight up from
the left side or the right sideand the girl is fast.
You know you can't bobble theball and expect her to get out.
(36:28):
You know you got to be perfecton defense to get that kid out.
And then behind her, you know,we've got Lex Thompson, senior
shortstop.
The kid can absolutely play.
You know there's not an aspectof the game where she has much
to improve on.
(36:49):
After that we've got juniorsHaley Bostwick, transfer from
Whitesboro, you know, coming offa very unfortunate injury last
year.
She had an ACL tear after thebasketball season so she missed
out on her sophomore year withus last year.
So, coming on as a junior she'sgot tons of potential, lots of
power and that kid's a gamer.
She doesn't back down, she's afighter and she's the type of
(37:09):
kid that can play anywhere.
With having her on the rosterit's really made it so.
That way there's no holes inour lineup, you know, and and we
can move a lot of things we canhave her play third, play
second, play short.
I mean she goes.
She went behind the plate forus in game two.
Uh, the girl can absolutelyplay and you know, having her in
different spots allows us toput other players in different
(37:30):
spots, you know.
So having her, in differentspots allows us to put other
players in different spots, youknow.
So you know we're getting a lotof good experience out of that.
After that we, you know, we'vegot Mack Howard, catcher, stud
catcher.
I mean geez, she threw out foursteals today from Shen softball
and they stopped stealingbecause she just kept gunning
them out.
And you know that's that's huge.
When you can keep them at firstbase, that's huge.
(37:51):
And you know that's huge.
When you can keep them at firstbase, that's huge.
After that, we hit Soph Tosteand I've never seen a person,
let alone female, hit a ball ashard as she does.
You know, and I've coached incollege, I've seen and coached
with men's softball, men's fastpitch softball players, and she
hits the ball hard.
After that, you know, we got alot of really stud utility
(38:15):
players that can just playanywhere, they can hit the ball
hard, they can manufacture runs.
For us this is going to be areally exciting season.
There's a few kids that I thinkare going to really get the
chance to step up this year.
One that comes to mind rightnow is senior Chloe D'Amico.
You know she's a type of kidlast year where she sometimes
(38:38):
she was on the bench, sometimesshe was on the field.
You know she was kind ofwaiting her time and you know
I'm giving her opportunities andshe's doing really good things
with it, so I'm excited to seewhat she does.
Barbara Ciotti another one kindof very similar to Chloe, kind
of on the bench, off the benchlast couple of years and she she
did great.
She was a pinch hitter for ourfirst game and then ended up
(38:59):
having a great at bat, startedour second game at first base
and did some really good things.
So you know, I said to thegirls I was like I feel like I
could just roll the dice and wewould have a good lineup.
Like so many of you can play inso many different positions,
it's like a.
It's the most amazing problem acoach could have.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I was just going to say those are really good
problems.
Yeah, as a coach to kind ofjust roll the dice and pick
names.
I'm looking at my lineup.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
I'm like.
I'm like, how do I not get thiskid in?
But how do I not get this kidin?
There's not enough spots on thefield for all of you.
It's just so good.
I'm excited.
It's good because if one of ourusuals isn't having an on day,
then I know that next person inline is going to be able to get
the job done.
I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
To get back into the sectionals and see this team
make a run.
What's this team have to do tomake that run as the season goes
on?
Speaker 5 (39:54):
100% the entire game between the ears.
Number one they have to believethat they belong.
They have to believe that theybelong, that they are going to
win.
They can't walk into any singlegame and think that it's going
to be a loss automatic.
They got to go in knowingthey're going to win, producing
the win and walking around witha little chip on their shoulder
(40:17):
and you know, like, like today,we played Shen.
We're watching them warm up andthe girls are going oh man,
she's pretty good, she's prettygood.
And I'm like girls, you'repretty good.
I don't even think you realizehow good you are, you know.
So I think it's just gainingthat confidence and actually
believing in themselves that'sgoing to be the key to our
success or our demise.
(40:37):
I keep telling them I'm likethe only team that's going to
beat you is you 100.
If each and every one of usplays our best game, there's not
a team in this state that willbeat us and coach.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
It always comes down to pitching too right in any
sport, pitching and playing somesolid defense.
I know you talked about some ofthe fielders that you have Talk
to us.
I know you got a couplepitchers back from a year ago as
well.
That are pretty good pitchers,so can you talk to us a little
bit about those players?
Speaker 5 (41:01):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We got more than three pitchers, but we've got three pitcher
pitchers.
A lot of our girls in theirpast have pitched for us, but
three stud pitchers and thebeautiful thing about them is
they all bring something alittle bit different.
We got two juniors returning.
Maddie Safin is a juniorreturning for us.
(41:21):
You know, maddie's that type ofkid.
She's a little bit like a GregMaddox where she's got great
spin, great movement and shehits her spots.
You know she doesn't throw theball 65, but she doesn't have to
, you know, because she's ableto work it.
She's able to work the countand she's a bulldog, she's a
believer.
Then we've also got juniorSophia Iglesias-Toste, that
number five hitter that I wastelling you about, that hits the
(41:44):
ball really hard.
You know she's built different.
She's a tall, strong kid thatthrows the ball hard.
And not only that, but when shebelieves in herself and she
trusts her grip, she can spin itreally, really well.
And then after that we've gotactually some future.
We have a freshman, ameliaSzymanski, on the team that
(42:07):
actually went out and pitchedgame one against FM for us and
went five strong innings, threwa bunch of strikes and held them
back, and she's got a lot ofpromise.
You know she's young, she'slean right now and over time,
with some experience, with somemore coaching and a little bit
(42:28):
more practice and experience atthis level, I think she's going
to be a real, real bulldog forus to get some outs.
She's another one.
She's got speed, she's got spinand she's got a change of speed
.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Coach I had to put up .
Coach Beers said ask her howher car is.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Thanks, beersy.
All right, so I'll tell you alittle story.
I don't mean to be a little bittoo much, like Coach Sklizinski
talking too much today I'mgoing to try real hard.
No, that's the fun part, that'swhat makes these things great.
I ran over a bolt and my tirehad a bolt stuck in it and last
(43:12):
night after practice I was likeI got tons of time.
I got spare wheels and sparetires in the garage.
And one thing you can knowabout me is that during COVID,
my COVID project was learninghow to work on cars.
So we went out and bought a2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and
(43:34):
I've done so much work on thatthing.
Um, it's just always somethingI've wanted to learn how to do.
So, uh, I had some spare tiresand I put them on last night.
They were fine.
You know, um, they're old tires, but I was like I'll get me a
couple of weeks until I can geta new set on my way to school.
I don't know how it happened,if I didn't torque the lug nuts
correctly or if they were justoff balance, but the my driver's
(43:56):
side front tire fell off felloff like the lug nuts got lost
in my house in the school.
I just saw jerry, he goes hey,now I just I talked just the
right amount.
I just saw Jerry he goes hey,no, I just I talked just the
right amount.
But anyway I luckily I've gotreally really good parents and
(44:17):
good friends and good neighborsto help me out, got me, got me
help, and we, we jacked it backup, got the, got the tire back
on, put some new lug nuts on itand I drove it home.
So we're good.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
You got me excited.
I've never met you before.
I've heard a lot of good thingsfrom a lot of the coaches in
Rome and in the area, and Ireached out to a bunch of the
guys to see if I can get yournumber to get you on.
So I really appreciate youtaking that especially after a
long day for you to come on, gethome, jump right out at me and
talk some softball.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
So I really appreciate it and we'll be
around to some of the games thatcheer you guys on.
Sounds good, awesome, thanks.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Coach, good luck the rest of the way.
All right you got it All right.
Speaker 5 (44:55):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Hey, did we lose you?
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was all of you or just me,
but apparently my connectiondropped.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
You know, I was telling her just about before
you dropped off was I would runthrough a wall for her.
I don't even know her.
I was sitting there saying tomyself man, oh man, she's got a
lot of energy, a lot of pep toher.
I really like the fact that, asa new coach taking over, you've
(45:28):
got to be yourself, and I reallyliked how she said she's know
she's going to be herself andeverybody's got the fresh start
and you know if.
If somebody's not playing well,it's it's next next girl up,
right?
Speaker 4 (45:40):
Yeah, sounds like she's got a great group and it's
going to be a fun season forthose girls, that they got the
right person at the helm andeven she said, said, she's here
for the coach, jerry, and it'snice to see that she still has
that connection with coach andlearning from him and taking the
program and running with it.
So good for her, I think.
I think the girls are, uh, ingood hands for sure yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
It's always nice, though, to walk in, and when I,
when I walked into sequoia, myfirst year I had I had a senior
oriented team.
Um, it's nice to walk in withexperience.
You know what players that havebeen there before, they've been
in those tight games.
They've been in those bignon-conference games.
That always helps a new coachcoming in Now she's been with
(46:20):
the program, but it always helpsyour first year to come in with
some experience.
But I'll tell you what openingup with, you know,
non-conference today playingShen and then playing Gilderland
, those are two really goodteams.
And conference today playingshen and I'm playing gilderland,
those are two really good teams.
And and that tri-valley justlike talking to coach howard the
tri-valley for softball isreally good yeah, there's not a
team.
That's going to be a slouch team.
(46:40):
They're going to be really goodand they're going to get
challenged out of the gatetomorrow right, and games like
today is what's going to makethem better.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
Like like you said, these are the type of games that
are going to make you betterfor the rest of the season and
you know, like she said, like tohave those teams that are good
in that league is going to makethem better throughout the year
too, because if you're beatingeverybody, like she said, if
you're beating everybody up,it's going to get harder
throughout the season to getmotivated, and then you're going
to slip up and play sectionalsand lose a game that you
(47:08):
shouldn't.
So it'll keep them on theirtoes.
It'll keep them ready.
Again, I think they're in agreat spot and it's going to be
exciting to see what they can dothis year.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Well, Pegs, we said watching college basketball and
really in any sport, defensewins championships.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
Yeah.
And even in softball andbaseball you've got to have
pitching and you've got to beable to make plays behind you
and it sounds like they can'tscore they can't beat you, right
, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
So I was hoping we would have gotten medesis on
tonight for a little bit.
I gotta see what happened.
The stat man might have retired, I gotta see what the stat man.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
But uh, this eight o'clock thing, man, it doesn't
feel, doesn't feel natural we'restill used to doing it in the
mornings it's a little differentbut you know it works well for
our schedules because, like yousaid, kids everywhere running us
everywhere ragged To make that9 to 11, that's tough.
There's lots going on between 9and 11.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
But if it's a way to get the gang back together and
talk sports, we'll do it.
So tomorrow night I got JimTracy's going to join me.
It's a whole new thing Beyondthe Game tomorrow night with Jim
Tracy.
He's the me.
It's a whole new thing Beyondthe Game tomorrow night with Jim
Tracy.
He's the co-founder of LegacyCommunications.
He's the author, speaker andhost of the Grampian podcast.
So this will be a completelynew set of series of interviews
(48:22):
that will be coming up.
They'll run about every twoweeks.
So we'll debut that tomorrownight right here at 8 o'clock,
beyond the Game on the Rockpile.
So, pags, it was good to havetomorrow night right here at 8
o'clock Beyond the Game on theRock Pile.
So, pags, it was good to haveyou back on tonight.
We'll do it again next week.
Speaker 4 (48:37):
Fun, as always.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Hopefully we'll get a chance to watch some baseball
this week and our kids will beable to get outside and play.
I hope so.
See if I can get up to watchsome RFA baseball and softball
this week.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
My daughter, I know, loves going to watch, so we'll
see if we can get up there andwatch some of the games.
Yeah, it's always good to catcha baseball game.
I like catching the local stuffhere at West Berlin.
It's always fun to watch theboys and girls play.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
So hopefully we'll be able to get out and watch some
games.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
We'll see.
We'll see We'll be shovelingsnow, but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (49:03):
Nothing, anything, is better than that.
I can just put my snowbloweraway today, so maybe that's the
jinx and we're going to get likethree feet of snow but, I, hope
not, but all right, man, I'lltalk to you soon.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
Yep Sounds good, all right.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
So I want to make sure let me get rid of that.
I don't like there we go.
Um, I want to make sure.
I think both coaches uh, I wantto make sure.
I thank Coach Howard and CoachEmily for coming on with me
tonight to talk some RFAbaseball, some RFA softball.
Both teams set up to have areally good season, so make sure
(49:41):
to get out and watch both teams.
Support all your local teamsand the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch.
I can't thank everybody enoughfor following the show.
This is weird doing it at night, but if it's a way for me to
get the guys on and talk somesports, we'll do it.
Make sure to tune in.
Tomorrow night I go beyond thegame.
Right here on the Rockpile I'lltalk to Jim Tracy a whole
different type of series ofinterviews that will run over
(50:02):
the next two weeks.
I'll be shooting and do maybetwo or three shows of those per
month.
So make sure to tune in and, asalways, on behalf of the entire
Mohawk Valley Sports Watch,coach Paggs, coach Medesas, the
stat man and myself have a goodweekend.
Everybody, we'll see you nextweek right here on the Mohawk
Valley Sports Watch.
Welcome to the Rockpile Podcast, the show where
journeys are told, challengesare embraced and victories are
celebrated.
Touchdown, this is yourplatform for authentic
conversations with athletes,coaches, teams, business leaders
and so much more.
Every episode dives deep intothe highs, the lows and the
(00:30):
obstacles that shape incrediblestories of resilience and
triumph.
Ready, Ready, Whether you'rechasing your dreams, overcoming
adversity or simply looking forinspiration, you've come to the
right place, so let's climbtogether.
This is the Rock Pile.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
There we go.
It'll probably help if I bringmyself on the screen.
Welcome to the Mohawk ValleySports Watch.
A special edition here tonight,a new time, 8 o'clock pm
Eastern.
I hope everybody had a goodweekend.
Hopefully everybody just wounddown from watching the Masters.
And congrats to Rory McIlroy.
Man, did he blow a five-shotlead, but it was back and forth
Fun to watch.
(01:26):
Got a great local show for youtonight.
If you're just tuning in, we'regoing to be talking RFA baseball
with Coach Evan Howard and atthe bottom of the hour we'll
talk some RFA softball as well,which I'm excited.
I think the girls had a doubleheader today.
I think they played down inclifton park against shenandoah
(01:46):
um and, I think, gildan.
I think they lost both games,but those are two really good
teams.
They went out and played.
So we'll talk to coach emilycowell here in just a little bit
.
We'll talk to evan howard aswell.
So without further ado.
I don't know if we're gonnahave coach medesis on the stat
man, but I do got pegs on.
He's been waiting in the greenroom pegs.
What's going on?
Partner?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
hey, what's going on?
Happy sunday, happy mastersunday right man.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
I'll tell you what man it is.
Uh, I, I caught the last, likefive or six holes, yep, and as
I'm watching, I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm a big phil guy.
I love mickelson, I wanted tosee some drama and I'm like rory
got the five shot lead.
I'm like no way he's got tocollapse, yep, and he collapsed
yeah, yeah, I was watching thatmy parents saw as well.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And uh, I was like, oh, here it comes.
And then I had to come backhome.
I said I want to make sure Igot time home in time for this.
And uh, I put the tv back onand I watched the end of it.
I'm like, but what it was greatto see.
It was great to see him win.
Um, you know, I've, uh, I Ialways said I don't watch a lot
of golf, but I, I watch themasters, I watch uh, I don't
(02:49):
watch all of it, but I do tunein.
It's just, I don't know it's,it's.
We all talk about it like thatmusic comes on and it's like it
feels like spring is here and itit's, it's an introduction to
spring and um, but watching itis fun.
It was, it was great to watch,as a, you know, and it never
fails.
The drama never fails.
I mean, it's always.
You get to that back.
Uh, three holes and all of asudden, the magic corner yeah,
(03:14):
the magic starts.
It's amazing, um.
So congratulations to mariomackinac, where I mean he
deserved it.
And you saw um just the.
You can almost see the like itall come off his back after he
put.
He put that, uh put in and hejust dropped to his knees.
And you can almost see the likeit all come off his back after
he put.
He put that, uh put in and hejust dropped to his knees and
you can just see like years ofhard work and everything just
you know, come off his back.
It's just like you know.
(03:34):
We always look at theseathletes and we say, no, you
know what they.
They're, they're athletes andthey're they're um drama and
this, that and everything, butat the end of the day,
they're're they're just like usman.
They work so hard for somethingand then all of a sudden you
see it come to light and just agreat moment.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So Well, amen, corner man 13, 14 and 50, maybe the
three toughest holes in in golf.
And you know, as I was watchingit and in regulation on 18, I
think he had like a four or fivefooter and I thinking to myself
, like when I go play golf andit doesn't happen a lot like my
hands like literally are shaking, I get so nervous, like when I
get close I can't imagineputting in front of all those
(04:10):
people and when he missed that,I'm like justin rose is sitting
just waiting.
Justin rose had the best round,I think, of the day.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
I think he shot 66 yeah, I feel bad for him too.
I mean, man, like you know, youhave a chance to to win the
masters and you're right there,and then it just gets taken away
from me like that.
It's like that's got to betough.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
But but it was definitely a fun day.
I'm happy for uh roy.
I know he was the uh.
I think he was the fan favorite.
I mean, the galleries werefollowing him and the shambo.
People were trying.
I think they were hoping it'dbe a little bit closer with him.
And uh, rory, coming downstretch, he just Bryson didn't
play well, no.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
And that's what my I was watching.
Like I said I was watching myparents' house.
My parents don't really followgolf or anything.
My mom was like all thosepeople are there to watch those
guys golf.
I said yeah, and then my dad'slike how much will these guys
make to do this?
So I looked it up while theywere actually golfing just to
see, and the winner gets $4.2million.
Second place gets like $2.1, Ithink.
And then like I think it's likeI can't remember exact numbers
(05:13):
now Like the 30th place finishis like I think $100,000.
And the 50th place is like$50,000 or something to that.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So the winner not only gets the money, so they get
the.
You're right, I think it's like4.2 mil.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
They get the green jacket.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
They get lifetime tickets and I think, like Rory,
can play in it now for like thenext 20 years I think he's
automatically qualified for itand then next year, at the
players the dinner, he gets todesign what the dinner is, which
I think is really cool.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
And one other thing that's really cool.
I think Tiger Woods years agowhen he won it, I think he had
like hot dogs, hamburgs, like acookout type style and you can
design whatever you want.
But I think what's fascinatingis they show you like the menu,
like all weekend in Augusta atthe event.
Like a bottle of water is onlylike a dollar.
Like they have sandwiches.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Like water is only like a dollar, like they have
sandwiches, like the prices arelike so dirty the prices are
really good.
I see I've seen some of that.
And how do they keep thoseprices so low at augusta?
I mean you think they cancharge whatever they?
Speaker 3 (06:12):
want, I go to the utica odd to buy a hot dog and a
drink.
I end up spending 15, 20 bucks.
Right, I can go to augusta andwatch the masters and what does
it cost?
Speaker 4 (06:21):
what does it cost to go to the masters?
I guess, guess, if you wantedto go and get a ticket or a pass
to go see the Masters, whatdoes it cost you?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I don't know.
It's a good question.
Hold your thought we got CoachHoward on.
Let me bring Coach on with ushere.
Let's see, let me oh, we don'tlike that view Hold on Coach.
There we go.
How are there we go, how wedoing coach.
Good, how you guys doing.
(06:48):
Tonight I'm doing fantastic,good to uh, good to have you on
talk some baseball here.
I was gonna say this morning,but I'm not used to doing this
thing at night.
Did you watch any golf today,coach?
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I watched a little bit and I was doing practice and
we had some pictures and someoutside work going on, so I
peeked in at the playoff alittle bit awesome.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
well, coach, let's talk some baseball with you guys
.
Another season upon you guys,and I won't spend too much time
on last season, but last year,you guys, you win 12 games.
Last year you took CNS to thewire in the sectionals, you guys
fell four to three and you guyslose some seniors, but it's a
whole new team for you this year.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I think last year was definitely a step
forward in retrospect, kind oflike competing outside the
Mohawk Valley.
We had a big win over Beeville.
We did beat CNS in the regularseason and we were, like I said,
three outs away from defeatingthem there in the quarter.
So you want to take much from aloss, but we built off that
this year.
I think the guys are hungry.
(07:44):
We did lose some big piecesfrom last year's team, but we've
got some guys who are reallyready to fill those spots and
some young guys.
I think they're going to bepretty impressive as well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And Coach that TVL last year and I think just about
every year has been tough.
I mean Utica, new Hartford,camden was good last year.
You guys are right up there atthe top.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
How tough is the TVL?
It's a grind every day.
You know obviously, being oneof the larger schools in the TVL
, you're most likely going toget the other team's best
pitcher on that day.
You know they're trying to comeafter the big schools, so we've
got to be ready every day.
We can't sleep, you know.
We can't let your guard downand you've got to go play every
game like it is, no matter whothe opponent is in the other
(08:28):
dugout.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
And Coach, sometimes you've got teams that come back
with inexperience in a youngteam and you've got to rely on a
couple veterans.
This is more of a senior-ledteam for you, a lot of
experience back.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, we have 10 seniors on this year's team, so
there's a lot of experience back.
Yeah, we have 10 seniors, uh,on this year's team, so there's
a lot of leadership from that uh.
But it's kind of the funny part, we don't have a huge junior
class but we have some somesophomores who are really going
to play some big parts, and Iknow we've only played one game,
but those guys really showedout in that one game so far.
So I think it's a good mixtureof some upperclassmen but some
(09:03):
younger guys, guys, some youthin there as well.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
And coach, who are some of the guys this year, some
of the younger guys that we'llbe hearing a lot from this year.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Obviously, the two guys you're going to hear a lot
about is Dante Sparace.
It's going to be his third yearbehind the plate and he's only
a sophomore.
I mean.
So he's stepped up as far ashis play on the field, but just
his leadership role.
I mean he's still only a 10thgrader, but he's a third-year
(09:32):
player.
Braden Meeks we brought uphalfway through the year last
year.
He's just a spark plug at thetop of the lineup.
He just finds the way to grindout at bats, base hits, bunt
singles, walks, and then he getson base and he just runs the
bases wild.
You know I don't like to givegreen lights to many guys, but
he definitely has it.
You know he's a guy that justsets the table.
He brings energy, sometimesgood, sometimes bad, but like
you can't deny the way he playsthe game and the amount of
(09:53):
energy he comes with.
So those two guys are from lastyear's squad.
And then we got, you know, markBarone, a 10th grader, as well
as Nick Malarzo.
Those guys are both going toplay a lot of time on the
infield.
So those are some excitingyoung pieces to mix in.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Yeah, I was just saying the other day.
I said you know, if you're abaseball player in New York
State, why the hell are we stillhere with this weather?
We don't get outside enough andI'm like sitting here saying
you guys are in a gym and thenall of a sudden the season
starts and before and before youknow it, a blink of the eye,
the season's over.
It just goes so fast.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It was funny because, you know, obviously right there
in winter break we got hit withall that snow and I'm thinking
we're never going to be outside,and then it went quick.
We were fortunate enough tohave quite a few days over at
Accelerate, but at Accelerate wewere outside probably five or
six days, which was probablyahead of the schedule years past
.
But then you get set back witha week, like we just had.
You know, we play a game andthen we go inside for four days.
(10:46):
So it's tough, it's a grind,and that's what we talk about on
the team, about, you know,grinding it out and staying
positive.
You know, because, like yousaid, baseball in the Northeast
is not the easiest.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
And Coach, how tough is it sometimes for the younger
kids that come up.
I know you've got anexperienced team, but how tough
is it for some of the youngerkids that don't have a lot of
experience coming up when theyget a chance to play?
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It's tough because, like you said, these guys it's
gotten easier, I would say thelast couple of years because a
lot of these guys are playingcompetitive travel ball.
So they're seeing some goodpitching, they're seeing higher
level play, as opposed to somefarm leagues and things in the
past when that was the only kindof avenue for summer ball.
But definitely making that jumpfrom JV to varsity is just huge
(11:31):
, especially, like you said, thepitching velocity coming at you
, your reaction time and justthe way things happen in the
field.
Things are so much quicker.
But, like I said, the youngguys that we have, and even some
of those juniors, the newplayers, they've grasped on
really quick.
They're quick learners.
So I think the transition isgoing to be smoother than maybe
in other years.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
And Coach talk to us too.
As the head varsity coach atthe lower levels, I think you
guys had like 45 or 46 kids thattried out for the modified
level, so that's really goodnumbers.
So you've got to be prettyhappy with the program numbers
for the modified level.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So that's really good numbers.
So you've got to be prettyhappy with the program numbers.
Yeah, the numbers have beenreally good.
Like you said, we're one of thefew schools that still do have
two modifieds.
Up until two years ago we stillhad a freshman team and I think
we would still have thatfreshman team for a lot of those
ninth graders who maybe justweren't ready to make that
junior varsity jump.
But the thing with the ninthgrade team is less and less
schools have it, you know.
So we were traveling out toSyracuse and playing the same
(12:27):
three or four schools three orfour times and you know, it
seems like every year a teamwould cut down and now you're
down to only four schools thathad that freshman team.
So it was making it tougher andtougher even to try to schedule
12 to 14 games for that groupof kids.
So that was tough.
But the fact that we still havetwo, two modified programs, um,
unfortunately we did have tomake a few cuts, even at the JV
(12:49):
and varsity level.
You never want to do that, butthe fact that these kids are
coming out is is is good.
Um, I was just talking to someneighbors.
They say the numbers that thelittle leagues are booming, you
know.
So I think you know baseball inin Rome is in a good spot for a
few years to come.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Coach, what's going to separate this team from last
year?
And you know, I know we talkedabout the experience, but what's
this team bring that lastyear's team might not have
brought?
Speaker 2 (13:15):
I think this team's lineup from one to nine is
complete.
There's not an easy out.
I think, with Bobby Jock andMikey Catlinato, those two guys
are our top two horses.
They did it last year asjuniors, as being kind of the
ace one A, one B of the staff,so those guys are going to be a
year stronger as far as justhaving experience.
(13:37):
Both those guys have gottenbigger and stronger, which is
obviously showing on the field.
And, like I said, we have acouple other pitchers that you
know I've stepped up in theoffseason.
I think this is the first yearI've had five guys Rock on my
team who are okay callingthemselves POs pitchers only,
and that's never happened to me.
(13:58):
Like there's always the guy like, oh, I pitch and I play first,
or I pitch and I do this, andit's like these kids have bought
in, like play first or I pitchand I do this, and it's like
these kids have bought in, likethey understand what their role
is.
I got three or four of those POs.
They know they're just a reliefguy, you know, but they come
about their business every dayjust like everybody else.
They put their work in, they gothrough their arm care, they
have separate programs that theydo, but it's like these guys
have bought in.
So I think that that alone wetalk all the time about you know
(14:21):
, knowing your role, doing yourjob, kind of our slogan this
year is clean your plate.
So what that means is finishthe job, whatever you take, and
start, finish it, you know, andthat's kind of what we're trying
to build all the way downthrough.
So you know we're going tofinish what we start, you know,
and that's these guys havebought in.
And, like I said, I just thinkthe mindset so far has been
really, really good.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Coach, I know the non-conference schedule.
You'll play some good teamsnon-conference before you get
into league play.
Talk to us a little bit aboutsome of the non-conference teams
.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, we go.
Actually, tomorrow we have ahome opener with New Hartford
and then we go on the road toShaker.
We have a couple of Division Ikids at Shaker and then we also
have Colony coming in on GoodFriday, who's always a battle,
and then you mix in some CNSsand some B-villes in there and,
like I said, that non-conferenceisn't really a slouch.
(15:09):
They've kind of changed the waywith the sectional seedings.
Years before you were alwaysseeded based on your league
schedule, you know.
So you could get some of yourreserves in the game and some of
those non-conference games, andthat has now changed.
I know it's been a few years nowwhere non-league games is just
as good as league games, youknow.
So you can say, well, it's anon-league game but you still
(15:31):
got to go out and win it right,because it's still going to
affect your sectional seatingand your sectional place.
So there's no nights off.
You can't, like you said,sometimes you'd like to empty
the bench and give guys you knowextra at bats, but you got to
go out and try to win every gamebecause, like I said, it comes
down to sectional seedings.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
Well, you kind of answer my next question.
As I say, I know it's nice toget off to a good start, but
it's also nice to play good latein the season.
But really and truly, from whatyou just described, there's no,
there's no room for, uh, for,for slow starts.
Right, you guys got to get offto a hot start and just keep
playing good baseball.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, and I was like you said.
We played a week ago, friday,up there in Lowville and even
though they're a class B, Ithink the last two years they've
been in the sectional final.
So they were no slouch and Iwas.
I was really impressed, justbased on the temperature, how we
hit the baseball.
The ball was just zinging offour bats.
I think we had 13 hits and nota single one of them was a
blooper or an easy hit, and thenwe probably had six or seven
(16:26):
really loud outs, you know.
So I was really happy with that.
I was kind of disappointed thatwe had to go back inside.
I wanted to keep those batschurning, but hopefully they're
ready to go for tomorrow andfour games this week.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
So, Coach, what's this team got to do to make a
deep run?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
to not only get in the sectionals and make a deep
run through sectionals make adeep run to not only get into
sectionals and make a deep runthrough sectionals.
We just got to believe, right,we got to believe we have the
guys.
It's not that we don't have thepower or we don't have the
skilled guys.
We have guys just like yourCNSs and your B-villes and your
CBAs.
It's just getting over thathump and, like I said, last year
we made strides.
We had a couple of nicenon-conference or non-league
(17:02):
wins and, like you said, we werethree outs away from moving on
to the semis there at CNS.
So we just kind of got to getover that hump.
I think the kids are starting tobelieve and buy in.
Like you said, you bring oversome experienced guys from the
basketball team as well as thehockey team and those guys have
had some postseason success.
So I think that you know justbeing able and being in those
(17:23):
situations and and, and you know, winning in some of those big
games, I think it's contagious.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
So, obviously, having some hockey guys and some
basketball guys, I think it'sgoing to help us hopefully get
over that hump when, whensectionals come, you know we
definitely had a good winter,winter season here in Rome and
hopefully we'll be able to carrythat over here to spring with
the spring sports for sure.
But, coach, you're always funto talk to.
I appreciate you taking time ona Sunday night here and not in
the morning, so good luck to you.
I'm sure we'll see you on thediamond.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I appreciate it.
I was hoping there'd be a Metsquestion, but we got no Mets
talk today.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
I see they're wondering.
The Jags and I are Yankees andI think Coach Medes is his
Yankees too.
I'm waiting for him to jump on,but he's at AU, so I'm not sure
if we're going to get himtonight.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
I'll razz him tomorrow at school.
Hey guys, I appreciate youhaving me and look forward to it
again.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Awesome.
Thanks, coach.
Good luck, coach.
See you guys.
Thank you, there you are, pags,I got you all right, but uh,
yeah, he's, he's done a good job.
Coach howard's done a good job.
And I know when we talk to tonick all the time we always talk
a lot about the, the youthsports, and one thing that's
(18:32):
really nice about the youthsports as I was obviously
talking to coaches, they gotgood numbers at the lower levels
yeah, those numbers that hementioned, I mean those are
great numbers, I mean, and totalk about even the Little
League, that's what I guess itwas good to hear that he's tuned
into the Little League, becausethat's really where it all
starts.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
I mean, those kids are going to.
You know, if you can build theinterest in Little League and
then those kids come through,that's going to make your
program so much stronger.
I mean, we've obviously seen itwith the basketball program, um
.
I think that's the key tosuccess and I think that's why,
that's why Rome sports um hadbeen good throughout the years,
because they build those feederprograms.
Uh gets kids interested early onand then, and then they
(19:11):
continue to develop uhthroughout.
So it sounds like uh, he's gotsome really good players in
there.
I mean, some of the names thatI recognized uh from hockey I
think spruce was the goalie foruh, for rfa, if I'm yep, I'm not
wrong um.
So those are, those are, thoseare great athletes.
I mean so you're, you know it's, and it's nice to see, because
a lot, of, a lot of theseathletes sometimes, you see, you
know hockey players andbasketball players who kind of
(19:32):
uh we've talked about thisbefore where they they stick to
one sport.
It's good to see that they're,they're, they're venturing off
the other sports.
Uh, because's good for them,it's good for the kids and it's
good for the entire school,obviously, to see these kids out
there playing.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Baseball just goes so fast.
It really does, it really does.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
I mean, you know I'm helping out with Modified for
Westmoreland.
It's like we're in the gym andyou know we got one team from
Modified, a lot of kids, and youknow, know, just being in the
gym and you just pent up and youcan tell the kids just want to
get out there, uh, and theweather doesn't look great.
I don't think for the comingweek of the some snow in the
(20:09):
forecast.
I think so, before you know it,you're, you're into play, uh,
playing games already, and thenthe season's over.
Uh, what early june is usually,uh, when it's over.
So you really have, if you'relucky, probably a good month to
get the games.
And it's tough because then youstart getting rain, outs and
everything and it's really toughhere in the Northeast to get
the baseball games in, which iswhy you see a lot of the teams
head out to Myrtle Beach, headout to Florida to get some games
(20:31):
in before the season starts.
A lot of these teams have donethat in the past.
I know Proctor did it this year.
They raised some money to getdown to Florida or Myrtle beach
or wherever it was.
But it's hard Cause that's alot of, it's a lot of money to
raise to get the teams to go outthere.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Well, listen, if you're a baseball guy in New
York state, it's gotta be reallyhard.
And I think of like the Tylershops of the world who we've had
on the show numerous times.
Yeah, that's, that's in theminor leagues.
I mean, there's been guys fromthis area that have floated
around playing single a ballthat you know with, even with
the diamond dogs, Pete, whereyou're at.
And I say to myself, like, ifyou want to play baseball and
(21:08):
you're from New York state, Idon't know, I don't know how you
make it.
Well, you don't play enoughbaseball.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
Well, I think that you see a lot of the.
I think a lot of these teamsplay in these AAU-type circuits
where they go off and play inother places because you have to
.
I mean, you can't just ifyou're just going to stick to
playing baseball in New YorkState.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
You're not going to get enough.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, there's no way.
I mean, and the thing is wehave some facilities here we're
lucky where you have Accelerate,you have Elevate and then you
have I don't know if it's stillopen, but the one that was in
Herkimer that the coach for theHerkimer Generals had for a
while.
He had a hitting facility downthere and a lot of kids put a
(21:51):
lot of time in those things.
But that's the thing.
Like you know, tyler Schaaf andthose guys who have made it
from this area if you're reallydedicated to it and you want it
bad enough, you'll findopportunities to play and that's
what you have to do.
I mean, you've got to go out andfind places to play and
unfortunately for a lot of kidsthat costs money, right, I mean,
if you're going to get involvedin these travel teams and stuff
(22:12):
, you know it makes it.
That's what saddens me a littlebit about some of this stuff is
like you know, know you havekids who are great athletes but
come from from homeless, whomaybe could not, cannot afford
that the extra money and theywant to play school ball and
those are the kids I think thatdon't have the same
opportunities because you knowto fork up the money to go play
travel ball.
(22:33):
Uh, for some of these teams,for some of these uh families,
it's a lot.
It's a lot of money, yeah youknow, you have your kids
involved in a lot and and youknow, just just just even not
even being in the travel stuff,just being in some of the local
stuff, um, it adds up, it addsup well, I was just saying the
other day to my son becausehe'll he'll be on one of the
(22:54):
modified teams here in rome.
Speaker 3 (22:56):
So I think their first game is like may 3rd or
4th.
They play notre dame at notredame, and then it's literally
like the month of may.
They play like monday,wednesday, fridays, and you know
three games a week, you're donein one month.
Right, that's not, that's,that's barring.
You know no rain, outs oranything, because you get it you
get a week of rain, um, andthat that moves.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
You know that gives you three games, so you have to
reschedule somewhere yeah, it'sgood to happen, right, it's just
brutal and then and then it'snot one of those things where
you get, you know, you get aweek of rain and then you have a
good stretch of good weather.
It's.
You know how it is around here,it's either it's, it's all or
none.
It's either you're gonna getsome great weather for a couple
weeks or you're gonna get rain,rain, rain, for you know a bunch
(23:39):
of a bunch of weeks where it'sgonna, it's gonna hamper the
season and it's it's toughbecause the kids, it hurts the
kids at the end of the day.
You know, I mean you can onlytry to reschedule so many games
and you know the double headersdon't, you know the kids don't
get it.
Whenever you get into a doubleheader you lose game time.
You don't, you don't, you don't.
You don't make up those gamesreally.
I mean you might play a doubleheader but you're not getting
(24:00):
the same amount of innings outthere, especially with some of
the new rules for modified.
I've been hearing that they'retrying to keep the games to
about two hours now, which isgood and bad.
I mean, some of the modifiedgames that I've been involved
with are brutally long, but atthe same time, you know you need
these kids out there playingball.
I mean that's where they'regoing to learn.
(24:21):
You know the game experience iswhere they're going to learn,
and I think some of theseumpires are vouching for you
know two-hour games and there'sa five-run limit now, I think
per inning, which again is gooda little bit, because I've been
involved in some games in thepast where it's gotten out of
hand.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
But at the same time you're limiting the kids
opportunities out there too.
So why we wait for uh coachemily to jump on talk some rfa
softball?
We got a little bit of time.
I want to get into nico uh, thequarterback from, I guess you
can say his, his old team intennessee.
Former team uh was looking atfour million dollars and you
know, I guess, tip your hat tojosh heupel in the university
saying you saying there's nobodythat's bigger than the team.
Don't get me wrong.
He was, I think, an averagequarterback for Tennessee last
(25:10):
year.
I think a lot of expectationsfor him coming in for Tennessee
another year in the program.
Now I'm hearing that Ohio State, of course that has the money.
Ohio State, oregon and, I justheard, colorado are three of the
teams potentially interested inhis services $4 million.
(25:30):
I don't think he's going to bethe only one, pete.
I think we're going to startseeing this trend.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
I think you're going to start seeing more of it.
But good for Tennessee forsaying no, right?
Because I heard the same thingwhen I, when I heard about it
and I started seeing like I'mlike where's this kid rank?
I I think he said that they was, he was the sixth best
quarterback in that league.
Um, so they probably said youknow what, thanks, but no thanks
.
And plus, I think the way itwas done, uh, the day before the
(25:58):
day of spring practice, yeah,um, that says lot about that kid
.
You know what I mean.
Unfortunately, like, andunfortunately, other teams are
going to go out and go after him.
But good for Tennessee forsaying no, and I just wish that
other teams will look at thatand say you know what, maybe
this is not the type of kid wewant on our team, but it's not
going to happen that way.
You know there's going to be ateam out there that's going to
(26:19):
be willing to give him the moneyhe's going to get what he wants
.
But I think that's what youneed to do.
You need to have more and moreteams that just say no to this.
I mean, I just saw something forDuke.
I mean the Knieppel kid.
I think someone offered him $5million to go somewhere else and
he said, no, he's staying atDuke, so good for him.
But, um, so good for him.
(26:42):
But I mean the landscape thatwe're in right now.
I mean that's what's going tohappen.
I mean I, I think what startedthis is I.
I I heard something thattennessee got got about eight
million dollars in nil money, um, so he basically said, well, I
want four million of it.
So I mean, do you blame thekids for for, for max and all
how much they, you know, up upin the ante somebody's gonna pay
him.
Ohio state's gonna pay someone'sgonna pay him right now, he's
(27:02):
gonna get his money and he'sgonna be.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I I think he's.
There's gonna be more of theseguys that you're gonna see that
they're not college athletesanymore, it's pro sports no,
it's pro sports, um.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
But you know, I was having this conversation with a
bunch of friends this past weekat work and I was like you know
what do you do?
Do you?
You know the?
You set a salary cap, which Ithink is a good idea, right, but
at the same time, you know,setting a cap does that hurt the
big schools?
I mean a school like Alabamaand Oregon who has the money
right?
Do we just say you know what?
We're not gonna set a salarycap, go out and get as much
(27:35):
money as you can for NIL.
And then what will happen isyou're gonna end up having just
like society, right, society.
You're going to have the upperclass, the middle class and the
poor, and it's like, well, youknow what, if you create that
kind of system, then you'regoing to have the best of the
best in the upper class playingagainst each other and beating
(27:56):
each other up and going afterthe money.
You're going to have the middleclass, which is probably like a
Syrac syracuse right, wherethey can't get as much money as
in alabama, but they're going todominate the middle class.
And then you're going to havethe lower end teams who just
can't raise that kind of moneyand they're going to do fine in
their area.
So I go both ways, like a capkind of levels the playing field
(28:17):
.
But does it really?
Does it really level theplaying field?
For you know, if alabama can,if alabama has the same money,
can bring in the same money as asyracuse, right, is it really a
level playing field?
I still, I still think alabama,you know, has the advantage
because that money that theycan't spend in nl they're going
(28:38):
to spend elsewhere.
They're going to, they're goingto improve facilities, they're
going to do more things at theirfacility to lure those kids to
Alabama.
So they might not get it in NILmoney but they might say, well,
come to Alabama, because lookat the facilities we have here
over Syracuse.
And so I think it's the samething.
You're still creating thatsociety system of, you know, the
(28:59):
upper class, the middle classand the lower class.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
All right, hold your thought it's no different in
football, Because I got CoachEmily waiting to get in the
wings here.
She's probably saying we don'twant to listen to you guys talk
football here.
Hold on, I got to change thesesettings around because that
doesn't look good and we got toget you.
There you are, Coach.
I got to get you front andcenter.
Never mind college football.
Talk right, it's softballbaseball time.
How are you?
Speaker 5 (29:23):
I'm good, thank you, how are you guys?
Well, I'm doing good.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
I'm not used to doing this thing at night.
Normally these are done in themorning, so I appreciate it,
because you probably just gotoff a bus not long ago, right
the long day today, at CliftonPark.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
Yep, yep, we were out playing two top teams in the
state.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
We faced off against Shenandoah and Gilderland today.
So we'll get to that part in aminute.
But let me just start withyourself.
I know you've been involved inthe program.
This will be your first year asthe head coach, taking over for
Coach Jerry, who I always laughbecause when I get him on this
show I barely get any words inbecause he just always talks and
talks, and talks.
So this is going to be a littlebit different.
Speaker 5 (30:11):
But what's different about you compared to you know,
taking over for Jerry and what'sgoing to look different.
I think the biggest thing isjust you know I love Coach Jerry
.
He's a great role model for me.
Great coach Guy really knowshis X's and O's.
He's a great role model for me.
Great coach Guy really knowshis X's and O's.
But I think the differencebetween me and him is, you know,
I was the girls, you know, adecade and a half ago, so I know
exactly what they're feeling.
I know exactly what.
(30:31):
You know what's in their mind.
And you know, the thing that Itake the most pride in as a
coach is I feel like I have mythumb on the pulse of the team
and I think the biggest thing isjust relatability, probably.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
So, coach, last year this is a team that won 11 games
, but it's also a team that Ithink they only lost one senior
off of last year's team.
So I think you guys bring backa lot of juniors and seniors, so
it's an experienced team andsimilar to Coach Howard.
I just said he's got a lot ofjuniors and seniors, so it's an
experienced team and similar toCoach Howard.
I just said you know he's got alot of experience this year on
the baseball team, similar toyou.
So, coming into your first yearas the head coach, I know
(31:09):
you've been involved in theprogram.
But how much does that help?
Speaker 5 (31:13):
Oh my gosh.
Honestly I keep saying this toeverybody that's been talking to
me about this I feel like I'vebeen handed a silver platter and
it's my job to to take it anddo the right things with it.
Um, honestly, we've got a verytalented team.
We're not short for talent.
We're not short of experience.
It's just a matter of takingall the pieces and being able to
(31:36):
put it together at the righttime, in the right way, and and
we're going to get there.
I can promise you that.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
And Coach, last year.
It's a team that you know.
They made it all the way to thesemifinals and ran into a
really good Liverpool team.
And again, similar to baseballtoo, I keep saying the
non-conference schedule.
You guys playing the TVL with anon-conference schedule.
You talked about the two gamestoday against a really good Shen
team and a really goodGilderland team.
So that gives you guys a lot ofexperience coming into the
(32:03):
season.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat and how much it's going to
help you.
Speaker 5 (32:07):
Oh, absolutely.
I mean I said this to the girlsbefore the games today.
You know I said don't feelsorry for yourself.
You know we're getting on a busfor two-plus hours to go across
the state to play two amazingteams that are going to set us
up for this conference play.
We've got a big game and wehope to make a statement
tomorrow against New Hartford,actually against a former
(32:30):
co-coach of mine.
I coached with Dan Salteri atHerkimer for many years.
That guy is like a father to me.
He's known me since I was a kid.
He's seen me play as a playerand early in my coaching career.
So it's going to be kind of abittersweet moment.
You know I'm going to give hima hug before the game, but then
I'm going to put my blinders onand we're going to go to work.
But no, I'm excited.
(32:54):
You know we learned a lot today.
Shen's an awesome team and, man, we hung with them for the
whole game game.
You know just a couple ofunfortunate plays and a couple
of times where we were trying toproduce, where it just didn't
go our way.
But we hung with them and youknow they're the last five years
.
I'm pretty sure they made it tothe state.
Uh, final four, the last, youknow four out of the five years
(33:16):
and to drop only five to two.
I think we can hang our hatproud on that one.
And and Gilderland again, youknow they're, they're an awesome
team.
We lost in that game too, but wesaw so many good things.
We had a lot, of, a lot ofpower and potential in the
circle.
Today.
That's super promising becauseyou know you got to have a good
(33:39):
battery in order to win softballgames for sure.
So I excited, I think we'reready to go and I think the I
think the TVL is going to begoing to be surprised to see us
yeah, and I was just going tosay the TVL I mean you got
Camden a year ago, I think won20 games.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
I mean Whitesboro, new Hartford, I think they each
won 15, 16 games.
I mean Notre Dame, pags, youralma mater, I think they won 15
games.
And then CVA, who?
I think they won 13 or 14 games.
So everybody in that conferenceis really good.
So it's a really tough schedulefrom start to finish.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
Yeah, absolutely, you know.
I take that as a blessing,though, because you know the
worst thing that could happenand I've experienced this as a
player you know when you haveyour conference games and and
you're blowing teams away andyou feel like you just don't
have the competition all seasonand all of a sudden you get to
the post season and you getspanked, you know.
So I take it as a blessing thatthat we get to see adversity,
uh, from the beginning of theseason all the way through to
(34:29):
the end, and it just sets us upfor good postseason play.
It just gets us prepared.
We get to see some adversity,we get to see how our team
handles adversity, and we've gota lot of talented teams in the
area that are going to do somereally good things in the
softball field, and it's goingto really be awesome to see how
we match up against it.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I think, if my math is right, you might have 10
girls out of 12 on your teamthat are upperclassmen.
I think you got four seniorsright, six juniors on the team,
I think, a couple sophomores, um, if my numbers are right.
But talk to us about some ofthe girls, some of the names
that we'll be hearing throughoutthe season, and is there a
couple girls, um, you know thatyou would say, well, they're
(35:10):
coming in with expectations, butyou know, I guess you can say
that is there somebody that'sunexpected, that you're really
looking forward to seeing howthey perform this year.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
In all honesty, I come in and my thought process
is everybody's got a clean slate.
You know this is the first yearof our future and coming in as
a new coach.
I want the girls to know thatyou know this is the first year
of our future and coming in as anew coach.
I want the girls to know that.
You know your experience isgreat but every single year,
every single game, you got toshow up.
You know there's players thathave, you know, started every
(35:44):
single game their entiresoftball varsity career for us
and if they don't produce, youknow there's people chomping at
the bit behind them.
We've got a lot of greatplayers.
You know.
First ones off the top of myhead right now is our first five
hitters.
They really, these last twogames, have really showed up.
You know we've got KennedyCampbell, junior center fielder,
(36:05):
leadoff hitter.
She's a slapper, she's a toughout man.
There's there's nothing shecan't do.
You know she can drop a bunt.
She can do a soft slap in justthe right spot, get it stuck in
that Bermuda Triangle.
She can hard slap and punch itpast the infield like nobody's
business and if I want to, I canhave her swing straight up from
the left side or the right sideand the girl is fast.
You know you can't bobble theball and expect her to get out.
(36:28):
You know you got to be perfecton defense to get that kid out.
And then behind her, you know,we've got Lex Thompson, senior
shortstop.
The kid can absolutely play.
You know there's not an aspectof the game where she has much
to improve on.
(36:49):
After that we've got juniorsHaley Bostwick, transfer from
Whitesboro, you know, coming offa very unfortunate injury last
year.
She had an ACL tear after thebasketball season so she missed
out on her sophomore year withus last year.
So, coming on as a junior she'sgot tons of potential, lots of
power and that kid's a gamer.
She doesn't back down, she's afighter and she's the type of
(37:09):
kid that can play anywhere.
With having her on the rosterit's really made it so.
That way there's no holes inour lineup, you know, and and we
can move a lot of things we canhave her play third, play
second, play short.
I mean she goes.
She went behind the plate forus in game two.
Uh, the girl can absolutelyplay and you know, having her in
different spots allows us toput other players in different
(37:30):
spots, you know.
So having her, in differentspots allows us to put other
players in different spots, youknow.
So you know we're getting a lotof good experience out of that.
After that we, you know, we'vegot Mack Howard, catcher, stud
catcher.
I mean geez, she threw out foursteals today from Shen softball
and they stopped stealingbecause she just kept gunning
them out.
And you know that's that's huge.
When you can keep them at firstbase, that's huge.
(37:51):
And you know that's huge.
When you can keep them at firstbase, that's huge.
After that, we hit Soph Tosteand I've never seen a person,
let alone female, hit a ball ashard as she does.
You know, and I've coached incollege, I've seen and coached
with men's softball, men's fastpitch softball players, and she
hits the ball hard.
After that, you know, we got alot of really stud utility
(38:15):
players that can just playanywhere, they can hit the ball
hard, they can manufacture runs.
For us this is going to be areally exciting season.
There's a few kids that I thinkare going to really get the
chance to step up this year.
One that comes to mind rightnow is senior Chloe D'Amico.
You know she's a type of kidlast year where she sometimes
(38:38):
she was on the bench, sometimesshe was on the field.
You know she was kind ofwaiting her time and you know
I'm giving her opportunities andshe's doing really good things
with it, so I'm excited to seewhat she does.
Barbara Ciotti another one kindof very similar to Chloe, kind
of on the bench, off the benchlast couple of years and she she
did great.
She was a pinch hitter for ourfirst game and then ended up
(38:59):
having a great at bat, startedour second game at first base
and did some really good things.
So you know, I said to thegirls I was like I feel like I
could just roll the dice and wewould have a good lineup.
Like so many of you can play inso many different positions,
it's like a.
It's the most amazing problem acoach could have.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
I was just going to say those are really good
problems.
Yeah, as a coach to kind ofjust roll the dice and pick
names.
I'm looking at my lineup.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
I'm like.
I'm like, how do I not get thiskid in?
But how do I not get this kidin?
There's not enough spots on thefield for all of you.
It's just so good.
I'm excited.
It's good because if one of ourusuals isn't having an on day,
then I know that next person inline is going to be able to get
the job done.
I'm really excited.
Speaker 3 (39:45):
To get back into the sectionals and see this team
make a run.
What's this team have to do tomake that run as the season goes
on?
Speaker 5 (39:54):
100% the entire game between the ears.
Number one they have to believethat they belong.
They have to believe that theybelong, that they are going to
win.
They can't walk into any singlegame and think that it's going
to be a loss automatic.
They got to go in knowingthey're going to win, producing
the win and walking around witha little chip on their shoulder
(40:17):
and you know, like, like today,we played Shen.
We're watching them warm up andthe girls are going oh man,
she's pretty good, she's prettygood.
And I'm like girls, you'repretty good.
I don't even think you realizehow good you are, you know.
So I think it's just gainingthat confidence and actually
believing in themselves that'sgoing to be the key to our
success or our demise.
(40:37):
I keep telling them I'm likethe only team that's going to
beat you is you 100.
If each and every one of usplays our best game, there's not
a team in this state that willbeat us and coach.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
It always comes down to pitching too right in any
sport, pitching and playing somesolid defense.
I know you talked about some ofthe fielders that you have Talk
to us.
I know you got a couplepitchers back from a year ago as
well.
That are pretty good pitchers,so can you talk to us a little
bit about those players?
Speaker 5 (41:01):
Yeah, absolutely so.
We got more than three pitchers, but we've got three pitcher
pitchers.
A lot of our girls in theirpast have pitched for us, but
three stud pitchers and thebeautiful thing about them is
they all bring something alittle bit different.
We got two juniors returning.
Maddie Safin is a juniorreturning for us.
(41:21):
You know, maddie's that type ofkid.
She's a little bit like a GregMaddox where she's got great
spin, great movement and shehits her spots.
You know she doesn't throw theball 65, but she doesn't have to
, you know, because she's ableto work it.
She's able to work the countand she's a bulldog, she's a
believer.
Then we've also got juniorSophia Iglesias-Toste, that
number five hitter that I wastelling you about, that hits the
(41:44):
ball really hard.
You know she's built different.
She's a tall, strong kid thatthrows the ball hard.
And not only that, but when shebelieves in herself and she
trusts her grip, she can spin itreally, really well.
And then after that we've gotactually some future.
We have a freshman, ameliaSzymanski, on the team that
(42:07):
actually went out and pitchedgame one against FM for us and
went five strong innings, threwa bunch of strikes and held them
back, and she's got a lot ofpromise.
You know she's young, she'slean right now and over time,
with some experience, with somemore coaching and a little bit
(42:28):
more practice and experience atthis level, I think she's going
to be a real, real bulldog forus to get some outs.
She's another one.
She's got speed, she's got spinand she's got a change of speed
.
That's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Coach I had to put up .
Coach Beers said ask her howher car is.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Thanks, beersy.
All right, so I'll tell you alittle story.
I don't mean to be a little bittoo much, like Coach Sklizinski
talking too much today I'mgoing to try real hard.
No, that's the fun part, that'swhat makes these things great.
I ran over a bolt and my tirehad a bolt stuck in it and last
(43:12):
night after practice I was likeI got tons of time.
I got spare wheels and sparetires in the garage.
And one thing you can knowabout me is that during COVID,
my COVID project was learninghow to work on cars.
So we went out and bought a2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and
(43:34):
I've done so much work on thatthing.
Um, it's just always somethingI've wanted to learn how to do.
So, uh, I had some spare tiresand I put them on last night.
They were fine.
You know, um, they're old tires, but I was like I'll get me a
couple of weeks until I can geta new set on my way to school.
I don't know how it happened,if I didn't torque the lug nuts
correctly or if they were justoff balance, but the my driver's
(43:56):
side front tire fell off felloff like the lug nuts got lost
in my house in the school.
I just saw jerry, he goes hey,now I just I talked just the
right amount.
I just saw Jerry he goes hey,no, I just I talked just the
right amount.
But anyway I luckily I've gotreally really good parents and
(44:17):
good friends and good neighborsto help me out, got me, got me
help, and we, we jacked it backup, got the, got the tire back
on, put some new lug nuts on itand I drove it home.
So we're good.
Speaker 3 (44:27):
You got me excited.
I've never met you before.
I've heard a lot of good thingsfrom a lot of the coaches in
Rome and in the area, and Ireached out to a bunch of the
guys to see if I can get yournumber to get you on.
So I really appreciate youtaking that especially after a
long day for you to come on, gethome, jump right out at me and
talk some softball.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
So I really appreciate it and we'll be
around to some of the games thatcheer you guys on.
Sounds good, awesome, thanks.
Speaker 3 (44:52):
Coach, good luck the rest of the way.
All right you got it All right.
Speaker 5 (44:55):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
Hey, did we lose you?
Speaker 4 (45:02):
Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was all of you or just me,
but apparently my connectiondropped.
Speaker 3 (45:06):
You know, I was telling her just about before
you dropped off was I would runthrough a wall for her.
I don't even know her.
I was sitting there saying tomyself man, oh man, she's got a
lot of energy, a lot of pep toher.
I really like the fact that, asa new coach taking over, you've
(45:28):
got to be yourself, and I reallyliked how she said she's know
she's going to be herself andeverybody's got the fresh start
and you know if.
If somebody's not playing well,it's it's next next girl up,
right?
Speaker 4 (45:40):
Yeah, sounds like she's got a great group and it's
going to be a fun season forthose girls, that they got the
right person at the helm andeven she said, said, she's here
for the coach, jerry, and it'snice to see that she still has
that connection with coach andlearning from him and taking the
program and running with it.
So good for her, I think.
I think the girls are, uh, ingood hands for sure yeah, it's.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
It's always nice, though, to walk in, and when I,
when I walked into sequoia, myfirst year I had I had a senior
oriented team.
Um, it's nice to walk in withexperience.
You know what players that havebeen there before, they've been
in those tight games.
They've been in those bignon-conference games.
That always helps a new coachcoming in Now she's been with
(46:20):
the program, but it always helpsyour first year to come in with
some experience.
But I'll tell you what openingup with, you know,
non-conference today playingShen and then playing Gilderland
, those are two really goodteams.
And conference today playingshen and I'm playing gilderland,
those are two really good teams.
And and that tri-valley justlike talking to coach howard the
tri-valley for softball isreally good yeah, there's not a
team.
That's going to be a slouch team.
(46:40):
They're going to be really goodand they're going to get
challenged out of the gatetomorrow right, and games like
today is what's going to makethem better.
Speaker 4 (46:46):
Like like you said, these are the type of games that
are going to make you betterfor the rest of the season and
you know, like she said, like tohave those teams that are good
in that league is going to makethem better throughout the year
too, because if you're beatingeverybody, like she said, if
you're beating everybody up,it's going to get harder
throughout the season to getmotivated, and then you're going
to slip up and play sectionalsand lose a game that you
(47:08):
shouldn't.
So it'll keep them on theirtoes.
It'll keep them ready.
Again, I think they're in agreat spot and it's going to be
exciting to see what they can dothis year.
Speaker 3 (47:16):
Well, Pegs, we said watching college basketball and
really in any sport, defensewins championships.
Speaker 4 (47:21):
Yeah.
And even in softball andbaseball you've got to have
pitching and you've got to beable to make plays behind you
and it sounds like they can'tscore they can't beat you, right
, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
So I was hoping we would have gotten medesis on
tonight for a little bit.
I gotta see what happened.
The stat man might have retired, I gotta see what the stat man.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
But uh, this eight o'clock thing, man, it doesn't
feel, doesn't feel natural we'restill used to doing it in the
mornings it's a little differentbut you know it works well for
our schedules because, like yousaid, kids everywhere running us
everywhere ragged To make that9 to 11, that's tough.
There's lots going on between 9and 11.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
But if it's a way to get the gang back together and
talk sports, we'll do it.
So tomorrow night I got JimTracy's going to join me.
It's a whole new thing Beyondthe Game tomorrow night with Jim
Tracy.
He's the me.
It's a whole new thing Beyondthe Game tomorrow night with Jim
Tracy.
He's the co-founder of LegacyCommunications.
He's the author, speaker andhost of the Grampian podcast.
So this will be a completelynew set of series of interviews
(48:22):
that will be coming up.
They'll run about every twoweeks.
So we'll debut that tomorrownight right here at 8 o'clock,
beyond the Game on the Rockpile.
So, pags, it was good to havetomorrow night right here at 8
o'clock Beyond the Game on theRock Pile.
So, pags, it was good to haveyou back on tonight.
We'll do it again next week.
Speaker 4 (48:37):
Fun, as always.
Speaker 3 (48:38):
Hopefully we'll get a chance to watch some baseball
this week and our kids will beable to get outside and play.
I hope so.
See if I can get up to watchsome RFA baseball and softball
this week.
Speaker 4 (48:49):
My daughter, I know, loves going to watch, so we'll
see if we can get up there andwatch some of the games.
Yeah, it's always good to catcha baseball game.
I like catching the local stuffhere at West Berlin.
It's always fun to watch theboys and girls play.
Speaker 3 (48:58):
So hopefully we'll be able to get out and watch some
games.
Speaker 4 (49:00):
We'll see.
We'll see We'll be shovelingsnow, but we'll see.
Speaker 3 (49:03):
Nothing, anything, is better than that.
I can just put my snowbloweraway today, so maybe that's the
jinx and we're going to get likethree feet of snow but, I, hope
not, but all right, man, I'lltalk to you soon.
Speaker 4 (49:15):
Yep Sounds good, all right.
Speaker 3 (49:19):
So I want to make sure let me get rid of that.
I don't like there we go.
Um, I want to make sure.
I think both coaches uh, I wantto make sure.
I thank Coach Howard and CoachEmily for coming on with me
tonight to talk some RFAbaseball, some RFA softball.
Both teams set up to have areally good season, so make sure
(49:41):
to get out and watch both teams.
Support all your local teamsand the Mohawk Valley Sports
Watch.
I can't thank everybody enoughfor following the show.
This is weird doing it at night, but if it's a way for me to
get the guys on and talk somesports, we'll do it.
Make sure to tune in.
Tomorrow night I go beyond thegame.
Right here on the Rockpile I'lltalk to Jim Tracy a whole
different type of series ofinterviews that will run over
(50:02):
the next two weeks.
I'll be shooting and do maybetwo or three shows of those per
month.
So make sure to tune in and, asalways, on behalf of the entire
Mohawk Valley Sports Watch,coach Paggs, coach Medesas, the
stat man and myself have a goodweekend.
Everybody, we'll see you nextweek right here on the Mohawk
Valley Sports Watch.
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