(Patrick Murphy had a strong sophomore season, earning a starting job on the Trinity Catholic High School baseball team. Murphy will be writing about his experiences playing this summer).
By Patrick Murphy
Coming into this spring baseball season, I had no idea what to think — would I be good enough to make varsity or would I make JV? I had worked hard during the winter hitting a couple of times a week, but I was still only a sophomore.
When my name was called the first day to practice with the varsity, I felt a sigh of relief but knew I would have to work hard and prove myself to Coach Nichols and Coach Walsh or I could just as easily get sent down to JV.
As I was walking out to practice, carrying the bag of helmets, I looked at the other kids on the team and realized that I was surrounded by upperclassmen that I looked up to but were my friends from football, baseball and hockey. Knowing that I was close to most of the seniors and juniors made me more comfortable and helped me just to play my game. But I still had to prove myself to the coaches and the only way I could do this was to practice and play hard.
After 2 weeks of practices and scrimmages, our opener against McMahon was a day away. Coach Nichols pulled me aside and told me that I was going to start at first base — holding back a smile I answered “Yes Coach.”
Although I was starting, I knew I had my work cut out for me — as we were facing Todd Lyons — a very good pitcher. When the game started I felt my nerves jumping, especially before my first at bat. As I was taking my warm up swings I kept reminding myself what my dad and my Little League coach, Bob Robustelli, always told me “nice easy swing, don’t try to hit a home run — hit the ball back up the middle.”
I went 2 for 3 that day and after it hit me that I would be alright if I just kept it simple. As the season went by I had a lot of confidence due to how comfortable I was playing with the juniors and seniors and how I realized I wasn’t playing varsity baseball but simply playing baseball with friends.
As the season went on our team played some great games — beating Westhill early gave us a lot of confidence. We also beat some very good teams — Ridgefield, Wilton and Staples — to qualify for the states. And while we lost to Stamford High, it was a great game — especially when you’re playing against all the kids you play with all summer.
When the state tournament came around, it was another new experience for us, but we were relaxed and ready to go. We won our first 3 games and found ourselves in the Class S semifinals. We lost a tough game to Stafford but I know our team will remember that game and learn from it for next year.
Looking back on this year, I was really happy with all the success we had, but we came up a little short. We were a lot more competitive than people thought we would be but we still have unfinished goals — win a city title and not only make FCIAC and states, but win both.
Lastly, I owe a lot of thanks to Coach Nichols and Coach Walsh for giving me a chance this year and believing in me. I would also like to thank all my teammates, especially Nick Cortese, Steve Scalero, Ryan Walsh, Jayme Antonetti and Mike Scatturchio, for making me feel comfortable and part of the team even though I was just a sophomore.
