Returning from last year’s PVAC champion, 2024 Sandy Spring Friends Varsity Baseball has concluded the season with some disappointment despite high expectations and a promising start.
In the regular season, while SSFS was on an impressive 7-0 winning streak and was aiming to finish undefeated, their goal was soon thwarted in the final game of the regular season with the Hebrew Berman with a narrow 6-5 loss. However, despite this setback, SSFS secured the regular season banner and the top seed for the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, they delivered a seamless 10-0 victory against St. Anselms. However, in the semifinals against Washington Waldorf, while SSFS was leading 2-0 until the last two innings, they conceded 5 runs in the end and finished the season with a disheartening defeat.
This season’s PVAC Boys Varsity Baseball has marked an overall rise in the competitiveness of the PVAC league. While the gap between strong and weak teams was often big, lots of games were decided by ten or more runs in the previous season, and this season showed more leveling of the playing field. Teams that struggled last year, such as St. Anselms, Spencerville, and McLean, showed significant improvement and better performance in the field, showing much more exciting games. Hebrew Berman and Washington Waldorf, one of the weak teams of last year, in particular, emerged as some of the best teams of this year. Hebrew Berman, who had a 1-3 record last year, managed to defeat all three top teams of this season—JDS, Waldorf, and SSFS. Washington Waldorf, with a 1-4 record last year, went on to win the championship this season, showing great improvement.
As with every season this year, the starting pitcher played a significant role as a key and a game-changing variable. In baseball, where hits and outs that create runs result from the duel between the batter and the pitcher, the pitcher’s role is very crucial, particularly the starting pitcher, who usually pitches more than 60% of the game. A good starting pitcher can stop the opponent from scoring and lead the team to victory. However, since they typically pitch only once a week, the pitching schedule of pitchers is often a significant variable, especially in the PVAC league, where teams often have fewer pitchers. Last season, SSFS, especially, have benefited greatly from this dynamic. While CESJDS – one of the most powerful championship contenders, who was undefeated in the regular season – was expected to be the toughest opponent in the playoffs, the ace pitcher of The Field School, Crum, has led his team to defeat CEJDS in the semifinals, allowing only 1 run for 6 innings, and eliminated CEJDS from the playoffs. Consequently, SSFS was able to beat The Field School in the next game, finals, without hardship, where Crum was not able to pitch.
This season also saw lots of new ace pitchers who highly impacted the dynamic of teams. Hebrew Berman, one of last year’s lower-ranked teams, rose to become one of the strongest with the help of their powerful pitcher, Porat, who led their team to win against Waldorf, JDS, and SSFS. Similarly, Washington Waldorf, led by their new ace pitcher, Liebreich, clinched the playoff championship this season. Furthermore, the overall pitching quality has improved across the league and a lot more teams have shown better performance to make games more competitive and exciting. Consequently, in spite of the stronger batting power, the team batting average of SSFS starters decreased from .346 last year to .325 this year.
Meanwhile, SSFS’s no.1 pitcher, Noah Gross, delivered an outstanding performance this season, securing 37 strikeouts and allowing no earned runs over 19 innings in the conference. However, due to an injury at the beginning of the season, he was only able to start two games and take two long relief appearances. Main starting pitcher Brandon Peang also went through an injury later in the season and could only pitch for 8 innings, although he showed great pitching on the mound. Despite some setbacks, new pitcher Jack Fones has stepped up and tried the position for the first time, starting six games and securing five wins while pitching most innings in the team. He came up on the mound and took the innings as a starting pitcher when there was a deficiency in the starting rotation to make a great contribution to SSFS’s achievements in the regular season. SSFS Varsity Baseball coach Ben McClellan has commented on his work saying “Jack [stepped up and] saved our season because neither Noah nor Brandon [was] ever really fully healthy.” Moreover, senior captain Sam Deichman-Caswell also shined as the closer taking the job of the former graduated senior Miles Jones, and allowed only two earned runs over eight innings in the conference. Freshman Quin Ely has also stepped up as a pitcher and showed promise by not allowing a single hit in his six innings of pitching.
The team’s small size this season was another challenge. With only 13 players compared to last year’s 18, this year’s team was notably small, as Coach McClellan pointed out that it was one of the smallest teams he had since he coached the baseball team. With just four players aside from the starters, the bench was quiet during the game, as the team’s energy and overall atmosphere in the field felt to be much less intense compared to last year. While last year’s team scarcely faltered their energy even when losing, this year’s team seemed to have less intensity of the atmosphere of victory even during a winning moment. In baseball, where the momentum of flow is crucial, the atmosphere plays . A team that maintains momentum, even when behind, can make it difficult for the opponent and can quickly catch up like a blazing fire. Conversely, a team that loses momentum, even when winning, can struggle against an opponent who quickly gains momentum. Despite these challenges, Coach Ben expressed optimism for the future, mentioning that lots of the good 8th-grade players will be joining next year.
While this season did not fully meet expectations of winning the finals and marked some unfortunate injuries, SSFS Baseball still achieved significant accomplishments by recording 7-1 in the conference and winning the regular season championship.
Great work for all Beestball players who showed dedication and trained from gym training in October to early off-season practices in February, and huge gratitude to the leadership of coaches Ben McClellan John Fitzgerald, Tim Hadley, and Danny Pletcher, leading the team to such a remarkable achievement.
