After a long-awaited return to play and a highly anticipated rematch against Marianapolis Prep, KO varsity baseball crushed the competition, shutting Marianapolis out 12-0 on Wednesday, May 12. A tough loss on Saturday, May 1, during which Marianapolis clinched the 5-4 win on a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning, left the team hungry for revenge. It is this competitive spirit and unstoppable drive that has propelled the team to success, earning a 7-2 record in this unique season.
Senior first baseman Eden Nenshati described the team’s attitude prior to their second faceoff against Marianapolis. “Our rematch against Marianapolis was kind of like a rivalry game, usually that’s against like Loomis or Avon Old Farms,” Nenshati said. “For us, it was not a game where we were determined to say, ‘Oh, we might win by a few.’ We wanted to ultimately beat them by a lot of runs, and we had the potential to do that.”
The team’s aspirations came to fruition as a result of great teamwork and sophomore pitcher Devin Wolff’s impressive performance on the mound, in which he allowed zero runs for Marianapolis. “It was a great team win,” Wolff said. “No feeling better than shutting a team out 12-0 that you lost to before.”
Wolff, who has an earned run average of .80, has stepped up as the team’s starting pitcher after junior pitcher Christian Pedro, the team’s only returning varsity pitcher, suffered an off-season injury and has been out for the whole season. Wolff spoke about the mindset he has when he plays. “Everyone gets nervous in big moments,” he said. “Being a pitcher, I get nervous a lot because there is a lot of pressure on me and how I start the game. After I get onto the mound though, my mindset changes and I know that whatever happens happens and I just have to keep pitching for my team and do my best.”
Head Coach Steve Cannata praised Wolff’s performance throughout the season and credited much of the team’s defensive success to him. “Wolff has done a good job, and because he didn’t get a chance to play varsity last year, this is his first season,” Coach Cannata said. He said that despite the lack of varsity experience, pitching has been one of the team’s strengths this season.
As the season wraps up, the team’s focus will be improving their consistency in all areas of the game. “Consistency is definitely our biggest weakness and to try and combat that and adjust, we try and make plays where we can,” Wolff said.
Luckily, the team’s return to play this year was not totally different compared to a pre-pandemic season. “The season hasn’t been very different,” Nenshati said. “The overall practice schedule and what we do in games is very similar because baseball is a really easy sport to keep socially distant, so it’s been really smooth and fun to play again.” He went on to say that the transition was even less drastic for many of the team’s starters, who participated in leagues this past summer.
Still, like nearly every aspect of life, the pandemic has resulted in the baseball team having to make some changes to their program and schedule. The biggest change this season was the combination of the junior varsity and varsity teams. “We stayed as one program, and we’re practicing all together,” Coach Cannata said. “Everybody dresses for home games, and we take a smaller group to away games.” This was a practical choice for the season because the program graduated nine players last year, leaving only four returning varsity players.
The merging of the junior varsity and varsity teams has been afforded younger players a great opportunity to get more experience on the field. “Kids who are freshmen and kids who are sophomores who’ve never played are stepping into a leadership role,” Nenshati said. Coach Cannata also mentioned that by combining the teams, players are learning from the upperclassmen at a younger age than before and will therefore be better prepared to start when the time comes for them to step up and play at the varsity level.
Another major change this season was playing outside of the Founders League. Typically, KO competes against 11 other schools around Connecticut within this league. The Founders League is a highly competitive coalition of athletic programs, and sometimes KO is at a disadvantage comparatively, due to fewer recruiting opportunities and lack of post-graduates. Coach Cannata said that KO compensates for this disparity by working with players that the Middle School up through their high school careers.
This season, however, was impacted by the pandemic, which caused the Founders League to cancel all interscholastic competition. Playing teams outside of the league put KO baseball in totally foreign territory. “It’s a bigger range in the level of play,” Coach Cannata said. “The Founders League is a very strong league, so [this season] we got some teams that aren’t as strong as we’re used to playing.”
Rather than squaring up against the typical powerhouse programs such as Choate Rosemary Hall, Loomis Chaffee, and Avon Old Farms, this season, the team faced a new selection of schools including Greenwich Country Day School, Christian Heritage, St. Thomas More, Northwest Catholic, and Hamden Hall.
Nenshati shared similar sentiments regarding the caliber of play outside of the Founders League this year. “It’s gotten a lot harder to play really great competition because the Founders League is such a highly competitive baseball league that we [typically] play against kids who are committed to different colleges for baseball,” he said. “We’re very determined to play baseball at a high level, and unfortunately like this year I feel like we couldn’t fully grasp that sort of difficulty in the teams that we play.”
The blowout victory over Christian Heritage on Wednesday, April 28, demonstrated the varying level of play among the teams KO baseball faced this year. The team asserted their dominance over the Kingsmen with their 19-2 victory. The team came out strong from the start and remained relentless. Wolff struck out the opponents in the first inning and the team’s offense was then carried by the senior Captains: shortstop Riley Gravel, right fielder Sam Smith, and center fielder Mike DeMio. Smith even smashed an impressive grand slam, earning the team four runs to further their lead.
The senior captains, who have been integral parts of the team according to Coach Cannata, all boast impressive batting averages. Smith (.450), Demio (.412), and Gravel (.308). They lead the team in terms of hitting. “They’re really the core of the team,” Coach Cannata said.
The captains and all of the upperclassmen have been great role models throughout the season, helping develop a strong team culture and level of camaraderie that has contributed to the team’s overall success. Sophomore second basemen Mac Louis reflected on the season. “It was a special season thanks to a special group of seniors,” he said. “I bettered myself just watching them play with so much energy on the field.” They are determined to remain relentless and finish the season on a high note. “We’re just keeping our foot on the gas, and we’re trying to win as many games as we can until the end of the season,” Nenshati concluded.
Moreover, though COVID-19 has brought with it many challenges and uncertainties, KO baseball has conquered these obstacles in stride, scoring many victories and achieving their goals, making the season a successful one.
