By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
After losing a full season to the pandemic, Sitka High baseball players are glad to be back in action and training for a regular season.
The Wolves open their season tonight against the Petersburg Vikings, 7:30 p.m. at Moller Field. Sitka High faces off against other regional rivals over the weekend.
“It feels really good to be back on the field. I just missed last year’s season. We were going to be a really solid team last year, so I’m kind of sad that we missed out on that,” Wolves senior pitcher and center fielder Emanuel Barragan told the Sentinel during practice on Tuesday.
Another Wolves senior, Trevin Carley, agreed with his teammate.
“It feels good to be back. Last year I thought that was our year… We’ve got to start going hard, practicing a lot, getting back in the groove,” Carley said. He’s a pitcher and catcher for Sitka High. Back in 2020, the pandemic eliminated the baseball, softball, and track and field seasons for local athletes.
With only five returning baseball players this season, coach Ken Carley noted that his team lacks the experience of previous squads.
“Of those five returning, those guys were on varsity but didn’t see much playing time. So I only have two guys that played much varsity seriously,” the coach said.
Those two returning seniors are the pitchers: Barragan and Carley.
Thinking back on the year taken by the coronavirus, the coach said that the lost game time will be hard to make up.
“In-game situations, you can’t get that back. Our older guys, juniors and seniors, are too old to play juniors for Little League, so they lost 100 percent of baseball for a whole year, whereas the guys that can still play, juniors, at least got to do that,” the coach said.
Team experience is crucial, he said, because veteran players pass on their skills to freshmen and sophomores.
“It’s huge because when kids come up they can see how it’s supposed to be done, our juniors and seniors get them stretched out,” he said.
While the dearth of varsity experience may prove a handicap, Trevin Carley highlighted the fact that for many players, baseball is a lifelong endeavor.
“Everyone’s played their whole life. We all have pretty good skill sets,” the pitcher said.
Barragan concurred.
“We’ve just got to help (younger players) out, show them what to expect going into the games this weekend… Everyone knows how to play ball,” Barragan said.
In the early season, the coach said, it’s likely that play won’t be up to the level of previous years. But he expects the pieces to fall into place over time.
“Everyone’s in the same boat. Everyone lost their season last year. It’s going to be - I think - a lower quality game at the start of the year but by the time we’re halfway done it’s going to be right up where it was,” coach Carley said.
Much like his seniors, the coach was glad to be back on the field and training, though his squad is much smaller than it has been previously.
“It feels awesome, (but) our numbers are way down from what we’re used to. Normally we’re carrying 30 players, now we’re down to 17 this year. It’s across the board. Juneau has 20 out of a large school. Petersburg only has 11, and Thunder Mountain only has 13,” the coach said.
As the season ramps up with games planned in Sitka this weekend, the coach hopes for a chance at the state tournament.
“I’m hoping to make it to state. Last year I think we had a really good chance of winning state,” he said, “We had a really good team and we didn’t get to play.”
After an abnormal amount of snowfall in the opening days of April, Barragan also hopes for decent weather so his baseball lifestyle can resume.
“It’s a lifestyle, it’s what we grew up doing… I’m hoping for no more snow this year,” he said.
Trevin Carley was optimistic about the upcoming season.
“I think we’ve got a good chance of doing good this year. Overall our team’s pretty solid, not really a weak spot,” he said. “I just love doing it.”
