- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,150,200
- Reaction score
- 59
CENTER VALLEY — No, Stroudsburg baseball didn’t get the Cinderella ending, but the story isn’t over.
The Mounties went on a remarkable run to end the season, winning the last five games to qualify for the district playoffs, then, as a 7-seed, proceeded to upset the 2-seed and 3-seed to reach the championship. Stroudsburg fell short of the title after losing to William Allen, but how the team turned its season around is a testament to the program’s resiliency.
“Nobody expected us to be here anyway,” senior first baseman Aidan Brier said after the championship. “We fought hard coming back from a 2-8 start to the season, and that says a lot about our character and grit. Going forward, we just have to keep our momentum going, keep our head up, and we got it.”
Stroudsburg had multiple reasons to give up on the season. Beyond the 2-8 start, head coach Matt Suarez also did not finish the year. Most teams with such factors don’t turn it around, but interim coach and Stroudsburg alum AJ Denny, along with the staff and players, did exactly that.
During the five-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Mounties averaged 7.4 runs per game while allowing only 2.6 per contest; after losing to Liberty in the regular season, Stroudsburg avenged that loss, on the road, to beat the Hurricanes in a wire-to-wire 6-4 win.
Even Nazareth, one of the best offenses in the EPC who beat Freedom 12-4 in the quarterfinals, was held to two runs after Damian Budhai pitched a gem in the semifinals.
More: Stroudsburg softball duo to continue softball careers at Division I level
“Confidence and belief in each other,” Denny said about the turnaround. “The coaching staff’s had the players’ back, they’ve had my back. That’s where it starts, and then the guys believe they can do it too.
“It’s one thing to talk in the locker room and say things at practice, but it’s another thing to actually do them on the field. And once these guys started to get the ball rolling and get a couple wins, they really, truly did believe in themselves that they could go all the way.”
The Mounties’ “never say die” attitude showed itself in the district championship, where they went from allowing seven runs in the first three innings, to shutting out William Allen in the second half of the game while putting up three run of their own with the chance of adding more had they converted on the bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth.
“That’s been us all season,” Brier said. “We fought tons of adversity, and honestly, we never thought we were out of anything. We always had a shot, and I think that’s a mentality that can help us make an impact in states.”
More: Rath's OT winner lifts Pleasant Valley girls lacrosse to 3rd straight district title
Brier added Stroudsburg’s run proved they’re more deserving of respect, citing how the EPC has “kept us on the backburner for a while. And I think it’s time to put Stroudsburg back on the map of being a powerhouse.”
The district championship also provided some hard lessons for the Mounties, specifically in the bottom of the third inning, where all three Allen runs came because of bad execution in the moment of an intense game.
Plays like that can sting for a while, but it can also be an opportunity to be more prepared when the next big moment arises.
“This is an experience that sucks, but we needed it,” Brier said. “We got to learn how to lose to know how to win and losing in a big game like this can ignite a fire under us to get us to keep going with states.”
In the end, however, Stroudsburg baseball may have found something over the last few weeks of the season. Postseason play is often about who gets hot at the right time, and Denny is confident that if his team can hang with Allen, whom he calls one of the best in the state, then “we can hang with anybody, and we’re excited.”
If Stroudsburg is really going to do this, the bats must get going sooner than later. It’s good to have the comeback gene, but that strategy can prove disastrous against top competition.
“Strike early,” Brier said. “You saw it in the championship; we started slow, and we had to crawl our way back, and we've had games where we were able to do that, but it's not sustainable. We got to start hot, stay hot, and end hot.”
Stroudsburg's state playoff opener is on June 1 vs. the runner-up from District 1.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Stroudsburg baseball finds groove during district tourney run
Continue reading...
The Mounties went on a remarkable run to end the season, winning the last five games to qualify for the district playoffs, then, as a 7-seed, proceeded to upset the 2-seed and 3-seed to reach the championship. Stroudsburg fell short of the title after losing to William Allen, but how the team turned its season around is a testament to the program’s resiliency.
“Nobody expected us to be here anyway,” senior first baseman Aidan Brier said after the championship. “We fought hard coming back from a 2-8 start to the season, and that says a lot about our character and grit. Going forward, we just have to keep our momentum going, keep our head up, and we got it.”
Stroudsburg had multiple reasons to give up on the season. Beyond the 2-8 start, head coach Matt Suarez also did not finish the year. Most teams with such factors don’t turn it around, but interim coach and Stroudsburg alum AJ Denny, along with the staff and players, did exactly that.
During the five-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Mounties averaged 7.4 runs per game while allowing only 2.6 per contest; after losing to Liberty in the regular season, Stroudsburg avenged that loss, on the road, to beat the Hurricanes in a wire-to-wire 6-4 win.
Even Nazareth, one of the best offenses in the EPC who beat Freedom 12-4 in the quarterfinals, was held to two runs after Damian Budhai pitched a gem in the semifinals.
More: Stroudsburg softball duo to continue softball careers at Division I level
“Confidence and belief in each other,” Denny said about the turnaround. “The coaching staff’s had the players’ back, they’ve had my back. That’s where it starts, and then the guys believe they can do it too.
“It’s one thing to talk in the locker room and say things at practice, but it’s another thing to actually do them on the field. And once these guys started to get the ball rolling and get a couple wins, they really, truly did believe in themselves that they could go all the way.”
The Mounties’ “never say die” attitude showed itself in the district championship, where they went from allowing seven runs in the first three innings, to shutting out William Allen in the second half of the game while putting up three run of their own with the chance of adding more had they converted on the bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth.
“That’s been us all season,” Brier said. “We fought tons of adversity, and honestly, we never thought we were out of anything. We always had a shot, and I think that’s a mentality that can help us make an impact in states.”
More: Rath's OT winner lifts Pleasant Valley girls lacrosse to 3rd straight district title
Brier added Stroudsburg’s run proved they’re more deserving of respect, citing how the EPC has “kept us on the backburner for a while. And I think it’s time to put Stroudsburg back on the map of being a powerhouse.”
The district championship also provided some hard lessons for the Mounties, specifically in the bottom of the third inning, where all three Allen runs came because of bad execution in the moment of an intense game.
Plays like that can sting for a while, but it can also be an opportunity to be more prepared when the next big moment arises.
“This is an experience that sucks, but we needed it,” Brier said. “We got to learn how to lose to know how to win and losing in a big game like this can ignite a fire under us to get us to keep going with states.”
In the end, however, Stroudsburg baseball may have found something over the last few weeks of the season. Postseason play is often about who gets hot at the right time, and Denny is confident that if his team can hang with Allen, whom he calls one of the best in the state, then “we can hang with anybody, and we’re excited.”
If Stroudsburg is really going to do this, the bats must get going sooner than later. It’s good to have the comeback gene, but that strategy can prove disastrous against top competition.
“Strike early,” Brier said. “You saw it in the championship; we started slow, and we had to crawl our way back, and we've had games where we were able to do that, but it's not sustainable. We got to start hot, stay hot, and end hot.”
Stroudsburg's state playoff opener is on June 1 vs. the runner-up from District 1.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Stroudsburg baseball finds groove during district tourney run
Continue reading...
