On April 13, La Jolla’s baseball team sat at 7-9, not only a mediocre record but also a losing one. “The team was trying to decide what kind of team it wanted to be,” recalled head coach Gary Frank. This was the time.
The Vikings embarked on a streak, winning 10 of 11 games, and clinched a share of the City League title, they’re first since 2014. Their record after the tear: 17-10.
“Our pitchers have been lights out,” said Frank. “(Righthander) Kevin (Steel) and (lefthander) Beau (Brown) have carried the team through much of it.”
But, as the coach is quick to point out, “every member” of the squad has made “substantial contributions” during a 2022 campaign that has been surprising as well as satisfying in so many ways after tough, COVID-interrupted years of 2020 and 2021.
A particular highlight from the depth of the relatively young team, which didn’t develop during COVID in the usual way because of the delays, postponements, and downright cancellations that wreaked havoc with in-person school, practice, and games: In a game at home April 22 against the newly-renamed Canyon Hills Rattlers, a non-senior, junior Max Hurley, had the game-tying hit. In the bottom of the sixth inning, a non-senior, Nicky Jamieson-Cacalano, another junior, got the game-winning hit for a 7-2 triumph.
Every school’s team had to deal with adversity during the COVID mess, so the Vikings weren’t unique in that. But the timing and frequency of injuries weren’t kind, either. Starting catcher Cole Duffy went down with a left-hand injury in the second game of the season (La Jolla started off with an 0-4 record), in which doctors had to operate and remove a bone from the hand. “I still have the scar,” the likable Duffy said, displaying the hand.
John Hartford, a junior, ably filled in behind the plate. Connor Hobbs, another senior and the starting centerfielder tore an ACL with three weeks to go in the season. Declan Kelly, a sophomore, provided the substitute there.
Besides Steel’s dominant 9-2 record and 1.87 ERA on the mound, alongside a .378/.447/.479 slash line (batting average/OBP/slugging percentage), and Brown’s .304/.440/.405, with a 1.46 ERA in 57 2/3 innings, though his 5-4 record doesn’t show his real value, Hobbs carved out a .315 average and had 29 putouts in centerfield in his 18 games.
Another senior, Spence Carswell, nicknamed “Puma”, with surfer good looks, batted leadoff, scored 19 runs to lead the team, and served as the closer. “He’s unflappable,” said Frank. “He’s a three-sport athlete, with experience in CIF football and soccer.”
Nicky Reynolds, a 12th-grade utility player, stole 10 bases in 14 attempts to lead the squad.
Senior Dillon Popkins provided a reliable third option as a starting pitcher and drove in 19 runs, batting in the fifth or sixth slot in the order.
“The things the team had against them — COVID, the first full year coming back from that, less time for home, less time for friends… (What they accomplished) is very inspiring to a coach.”
