EVERETT — The bar has been raised for Archbishop Thomas Murphy’s baseball team.
In his debut season as coach of the Wildcats last year, Ed Gay and his players set out to finish in the top half of the Northwest A League, a goal they easily accomplished with a 9-6 league mark and a 13-6 overall record.
But with eight returning players, including seven starters, and all but one pitcher back, Archbishop Murphy has set its sights much higher this season.
The success of other teams at the school also has led to increased expectations for the baseball team. The Wildcats’ football and soccer teams both won state championships this season and the basketball team recently advanced to the state tournament for the first time.
“All the boys teams have won their league and we hope to do that this year for basketball,” said senior co-captain Jeff Arkell. “There’s a lot of pressure on us. I think we’ll get it done with the team we have.”
The talk on campus hasn’t exactly been of the subtle variety either.
“A lot of members of the other teams have come up to me and said ‘We expect you to go to state,’” said senior co-captain Nick Karthas. “It’s pretty outright … we think we can live up to them (expectations). Having that extra support behind us is going to help.”
What also helps is that Archbishop Murphy finally has a new field to play on and just as important to practice on day in and day out.
Last year, the Wildcats played their games at the Maltby Fields in Snohomish and practiced on the football field at the school, a less-than-ideal situation.
“Pretty much all we could do is take ground balls and focus on that aspect,” said Arkell, who plays shortstop and pitches. “This year now that we’ve got our own field and a new batting cage we can do more offensive drills.”
Archbishop Murphy’s offense figures to be one of the chief beneficiaries of the new facility.
“We’ve been able to have live hitting on the field,” Gay said. “Last year we probably hit (live) three times all year and I think as a team last year that probably hurt us offensively because we do play good defense. That was the key for us last year. This year we’re putting a lot into our offense.”
The Wildcats return the heart of its lineup with three, four and five hitters Arkell, Karthas and junior first baseman/pitcher Chris Mitchell. Archbishop Murphy should have an improved offense, Gay predicts.
Arkell already has noticed a difference.
“The last couple of days our hitting has been outstanding, just from batting practice,” he said.
The other returning senior for Wildcats is outfielder/first baseman Brent McCann. Senior outfielder Ian Telge returns to the team after missing last season due to shoulder surgery.
“We’re solid pretty much at every position,” said Karthas, a third baseman/pitcher. “I’d say we are better than last year. We have deep pitching as well. I think we’ll have a pretty solid year.”
Much of Archbishop Murphy’s success this season will depend on its pitching; the Wildcats have six league doubleheaders this season.
“We have a lot of pitching,” Gay said. “That helps us out a lot.”
A year ago, Archbishop Murphy opened with nine straight victories but then faded in the second half of the season and did not make the playoffs.
The Wildcats did not have any games during spring break and the momentum they had in the first half of the season seemed to dissipate.
“Without a facility we weren’t able to scrimmage or do any of that, so we got away from the game,” Gay said. “We lost our focus.”
Nothing seemed to go right for the team after spring break, Arkell added.
“No one was the same,” he said. “No one was playing up to their ability like they were in the first half. We had the whole week off to rest. It seemed to prove to be a disadvantage for us.”
This season Archbishop Murphy has scheduled three games during the break.
“If we get the momentum going, we’ll be able to keep it going,” Gay said.
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