Winning takes talent. To repeat takes Character. ~~ John Wooden ____________________________ Wow........where to start........the last three days - heck the three days of the past two weekends were pretty special ones. But these last three days.....seems like the classic storybook ending kind of moment in time. Necessarily, as a state tourney baseball umpire, one of the things I was asked to do was to stay off of social media - hard for me to do, knowing the special moment this three days could be for a group of young men and their coaches. So, here I sit on a Sunday morning.......sipping my tasty Fish Eye peppermint mocha, having had so many conversations, even on a Sunday morning, from friends - all excited about the last three days and, even as I need to be that un-bias umpire, which I like to think I am..........you cant help but reflect on the moment in time. Oh the games? They were fantastic. 3 games on the first day decided at the end, by one run, including an epic - just epic record setting 15 inning game in which Juneau lost to South Anchorage 7-6. That is an entire story all by itself....and worthy of its own story, but this day Im focused on the two week+ run by the Sitka Wolves. After that incredible 4 hour epic battle, came Sitka in the nightcap, starting nearly two hours late, instead of 7pm, starting nearly at 9pm, in the cold of a beautiful night in Sitka. While it was a 10-4 final over Eagle River, it was the manner in which the Sitka boys were setting the tempo for the weekend. Big Brian Way threw a workmanlike, dominant performance on the mound. He might tell you had didnt have his best stuff, but Brians okay stuff is still pretty dang great and it showed. There were times the Eagle River players seemed overmatched at the plate. And its not that Eagle River was bad as Coach Conway noted that they are disciplined well coached team and here for a reason. Its just that Brian Way is that good. Eagle River was able to muster a few hits coupled with a couple of Sitka miscues to manufacture 4 runs, yet really, it was not much of a game in the sense of feeling like it was a battle. It just seemed like the Sitka team was setting their tempo, their game. On the offensive side, there is a young man named Erickson Fish. He just hammered the ball. Just hammmmmered the ball. I was working behind the plate when he drove a ball to a couple of feet shy of a home run, literally almost hitting the 375 ft sign on the fence. To watch it sizzle off the bat, a frozen rope to 375, well it was that - it sizzled. And the tempo was set by the SHS baseball team in their state tournament, for the final year of the SHS Coaching staff. It was a theme that, while it was carried by Brian Way and Erickson Fish, had some great supporting cast members. Its a team game. Two players leading the way on the field, yet there was great, great contributions by that supporting cast. Coach Conway would simply say, if they dont step up, it doesnt matter how good Fish and Way are. And the list is as long as the roster. Coleman stepping in as catcher and doing a superb job at seasons end and into region/state was huge for Sitka. Freshmen Stockel and Suarez stepping in and up, especially Suarez when Sitka loses Joey Inman and GU Lodi to injury before regions. Dalton being Dalton, Bayne stepping into a starting role at first with Joeys injury. Fitzsimmons being Fitz. Elliot being the Freddy we all know and love. The pieces to this picture puzzle fell into place in these last two weeks. And that picture was getting clearer and clearer - and a key piece was Sitka winning Region V and their state tourney bracket placement based on that Region title. In their semi-final game, the Wolves put the red hot Erickson Fish on the mound and he continued his ways. A dominating no hitter against a one loss Wasilla Warrior team that ended in five innings because the Wolves did everything right at the plate. Brian Way drilled an opposite field grand slam, Fish pounded the ball but the rest of the team was contributing along this road. Whether it was moving runners, solid D, making the routine plays routine, the engine was tuned for the title game. The classic Big City Anchorage vs small town Sitka matchup was there one more time for Coach Conway in his final game as the Skipper, along with Mark Buggins, Scott Calhoun, Jim Way, and there in presence - John Wathen.......and the boys. The Wolves vs. the top team from the biggest city in Alaska - South Anchorage. And it was a classic game in typical Sitka fashion - rain, wind, cold, yet a packed Moller Park, full of Sitka fans wanting to cheer on their team and this Coach. Sitka jumped out early, with walks and balks and timely hits into a 4-0 lead in their first at bat but South woke up and plated six, including a grand slam for a 6-4 lead. Elliot hung on as long as he could before he would hand it over to Brian Way and Erickson Fish to finish the game on the mound. Offensively, it was both teams answering each other as the score step-laddered up, in the at times gusting wind and at times sideways rain.....cold...as these two teams battled. Way and Fish drilling balls. Belley continuing his great two week run at the plate, Coleman doing everything he could behind the plate in this weather - an outstanding job. It was fun being out there on the field for this game. Freshman second baseman Ky Stockel made one of the great defensive plays in the tourney by backing up an overthrow to first and throwing out the South base runner trying to advance from second to third. A huge play! Brian Way pitched a full game two days earlier, Erickson Fish notched five innings the night before, and now both seniors were ready for this final moment of their high school career - to do what they knew they could do. For all they did on offense, it came down to these two stepping up and holding back a potent South offense that was matching Sitkas onslaught - by sharing pitching duties to bring home the title. Way went to the final inning battling a great line up, the weather and seven innings two days prior. He handed the ball to Fish for that final inning. Here it was, an 11-10 lead and South Anchorages final at bat. A walk, an intentional walk, two outs and the winning run on second for South, in the rain and Souths heart of the lineup ready to win the game. Instead, Erickson Fish finished on a great personal run, by striking out the final batter and the celebration was on.......State Title #4 for the Sitka Wolves under Coach Ed Conway. Necessary being un-bias as an umpire, I couldnt help but watch the unbridled joy of the celebration.......and I saw a very, very special moment that I will take with me. As I walked off the field, seeing Conway and the kids along the 3rd base line celebrating, Conway disengaged that group and turned to the men, the Assistant Coaches, as they started coming to him. To see that big Conway smile one more time as, I think it was Coach Buggins, he lifted one of them up as he let loose, Can you Believe It! As Buggins, Scott Calhoun, Jim Way, and there in heart was John Wathen - as this story had a great final chapter. That chapter is about a retired Coastie who decided that he and his wonderful wife, Janice, would make a home in Sitka and then he inherited a high school baseball program that his good, close friend Bill Steinbach (and Mike Bowen) started. And Ed coached this high school baseball program for 19 years. His assistants have been with him for most all of that 19 years, Mark Buggins especially. But for me, it is back to that, Its a marathon, not a sprint, vision that Ed Conway had. He is a man of Integrity, a person of Great Character, holds himself accountable by way of example, has given soooo, much to so many kids in his program, the little league kids he coached, the way he encouraged kids to succeed, positive attitude...... To see him, on this Field of Dreams that was built BECAUSE of his coaching efforts and successes in putting Sitka baseball on the map and working to make Moller Park renovation happen, using the batting cage that he led the organizing of making happen, and winning the Region V title in his final year........and winning his FOURTH State Championship, in the first ever state baseball championship held in SE Alaska on this Field of Dreams that he literally helped make happen, with his coaches Buggins, Calhoun, Way, and Waffles in spirit, that have been with him in this 19 year marathon, with Brian Hanson in the booth.............this storybook ending cannot be scripted in its intensity of the past three days, nor can it be matched in its ending - the two key seniors step up, key younger players step up, the title game coming down to a tension filled final at bat for South.......a capacity crowd at Moller Park..... I dont think it could have been written better than how it happened. Ed will be Ed - the humble and gracious soul that he is - and say that this is about those kids getting off the deck from a few weeks back and making this happen. Hell also talk about Mark, Scott, Jim, and John as well as Matt Way stepping in this year and being a key contributing coach and influence on the kids and then point out that he does have a wonderful wife in Janice to put up with his love for this game and all the kids hes coached over the nearly two decades. Hell share the successes with many others, as he always does. And he takes responsibility too when things dont go well. Thats the Ed Conway Ive come to know over the years. A man of Character - Good Character. And in his love for the game, has given so much to this game and to this community. Yes - this championship beings to these kids. They earned it and they deserved it. It was fun seeing them all put this three week run together (it sortakinda started in the final week in Juneau before regions). But I like to think that the storybook ending is so fitting for Ed Conway, and his friends - the assistant coaches AND THEIR WIVES who were always along for this ride. To win on his Field of Dreams, the State Championship one more time, in his final game. A winner on the field but even more important - a winner in life, with his wife and his Kev and his Em. I wasnt along for the ride. But I had a great front row seat along the way and enjoyed every chapter, especially this final chapter. Thank you, Ed Conway. We all thank you........................Cheers to Mark, to Scott, to John, to Waffles, but really..... Cheers to you, Ed Conway, for the special impact you have made, in such a positive way, for so many of us.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 23:46:31 +0000
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