Pitcher ready to to throw the ball. Photo by Courtney Fitzgerald.
This year, the Malden High School Baseball team went out with yet another great season. The team this year had a record of 8-11. The team will continue on into a few more games that will decided whether they make it into playoffs or not.
Going into the next few games leading up to the playoffs, the team has very little doubt in their skills and are confident in the coaching and training that they have been receiving all season.
Right field baseball player junior Devin Killoren even stated how “[they] have a good shot of making it [to the State tournament], [they’re] a good team under pressure and if [they] lose [they’re] out and that is not part of the plan for [then], [they] all want the same goal and that is to be State champs.
Despite the bad weather, the team continued to push through the season, however they did have to change their normal practice routine explained Killoren, when stating how he thinks “... it had some role in the season, [they] missed some practices because of the weather but [they] are fortunate to use Salemwood some nights to use the batting cages, but the nights [they] cannot [they] are missing out and it definitely affects [them].”
This year, the team has a great season with many ups and downs. Throughout this season, the boys have learned many new skills to make them better players. “[He has] learned the more advanced things in baseball, stuff that [he] did not know playing JV or Babe Ruth,” said sophomore Clifton Noelsaint.
Others players also found themselves with a lot of improvement this year that they believe will help for the upcoming season. Killoren thinks he has improved tremendously, as this was his first year on Varsity, getting used to the pitching and improving my pitching and fielding skills.
The team believes that their great success has come from at lot of aspects, however the main reasons the the athletes believe that they have been so successful this year is due to “great coaching and great team chemistry, [they] all believe in each other and trust each other,” said Killoren. Noelsaint explained that he believed that they teams success this year streamed from “the strong connection and togetherness of the team.”
With the senior class graduating, there will be some strengths gone from the team. Noelsaint even stated how the seniors “are a really good group of baseball players and have helped [them] a lot.” However, the baseball team will come back next year just as strong. “It will affect [them] a lot, they were all great leaders and helped [the] team win a lot of games, [they are] going to miss them but [he is] confident about the juniors and other underclassmen.” said Devin Killoren.
The players are all really looking forward for the end of the season and a chance at making playoffs as well as the next season. They are preparing now for playoffs and will soon find out if they qualify or not.
