Carson High’s baseball season officially ended Thursday a little before 3 p.m. at Peccole Park.
It was too soon for the players, coaches and parents, who were hoping the young Senators could pull off yet another upset and continue to make noise at the regional tournament.
The reality of sports is there’s only one team that goes out a winner in a postseason tournament, and that’s the champion. Carson had a nice season, 18-16, under third-year head coach Bryan Manoukian. It’s the first time Carson has been above .500 since Manoukian took the helm.
I would have liked to see this team go longer. It was a fun team to watch, and truly a nice group of young men who represented Carson well. A team should be like a family, and this team showed no signs of selfishness. One for all and all for one was what this group was all about.
“Overall we had a very successful year,” Manoukian said after the 11-3 loss to Manogue on Thursday. “We played young, which we were, at times and sometimes took our lumps. We were competitive against the top half of the league (two wins vs. Damonte, two vs. Galena, one vs. Manogue), and that is something we haven’t done in a while.
“We had good chemistry; good attitudes. We played for each other. They liked each other.”
Brandon Allen, one of four seniors on the team, agreed.
“I definitely felt like we were a family,” said Allen, who admitted that hasn’t always been the case since he came up to the varsity. “I knew from last summer we would be a pretty good team. I think we could have done better.”
And, if not for an injury to outfielder-pitcher Joe Nelson, they might have. The loss of Nelson on the hill and in the outfield handcuffed Manoukian at times as did the back injury to Jessie Lopez, who played a key role early in the season.
Manoukian praised the leadership of Allen, Josiah Pongasi, Nolan Shine and Seamus Burns.
The Senators played better than I expected. I truly didn’t see 14-8 coming, and truth be told there were a few games (North Valleys, Reno, Galena playoff game and McQueen) Carson probably should have won.
The scary thing about this squad is six pitchers Krebs, Moyle, Nelson, Terek Been, John Holton and Cody Azevedo return next year.
That’s not a bad group to build around. Second baseman Conner Pradere, outfielder Lopez and third baseman Jace Keema return along with outfielders Jordan Anderson and Kevin Gagnon.
Carson needs to find a catcher to back up Krebs, and that could be sophomore-to-be Abel Carter, who played a few varsity innings in the outfield. Manoukian more than likely will use Pradere at short this summer. Pradere had some issues throwing the ball from second at times. The throw from short is longer, but it’s an easier throw.
This is a team that should finish just as high, if not higher, next season barring injuries.
And, last but not least, I like the make-up of the coaching staff.
The group of Manoukian, Cody Farnworth, Matt Morgan and Joe Tierney is solid. Morgan and Tierney both have kids who are dominating at the Little League level and are going to be up in just four or five years.
•••
It’s bad enough when the Little League and AYSO permeates up to the high school level. It’s even worse when you see it at the junior college level.
Take the Scenic West Athletic Conference as an example. With Eastern Utah State dropping down a level, the SWAC has just five squads. So why do all five schools have to be in the conference tournament? Colorado Northwestern is 7-25 and playing in the postseason. Are you kidding me?
The SWAC event should be four teams which could easily wrap up in three days. A 7-25 team should be concentrating on finals, not playing baseball. If you can’t prove your worth in 32 games, you’re not postseason worthy. Ditto for SWAC softball.