The John Stark Regional High School baseball team has been enjoying a turnaround. That’s part one of the rebuilding process.
Dennis Pelletier knows part two is sustaining the success. And John Stark’s head coach knew that required finding a way for his players – present and future Generals alike – to stay together after the season came to an end.
“For us to get to be in the conversation with Portsmouth and Goffstown and Souhegan and those guys, we have to develop players beyond just the few kids that can afford to play AAU,” he said.
Pelletier knew the solution, taking the steps to turn his wood-bat independent summer league team into a Junior American Legion program, with full support from Weare Post 65.
The work was tireless, with Pelletier needing to rally support in the fall, schedule games in the winter and stock up equipment in the spring, but with an enthusiastic post behind him and a large turnout of talented players bolstering his roster, the endeavor is proving to be as rewarding as it was challenging.
“(The post is) very enthusiastic about this and they were just as excited as I was,” said Pelletier, the team’s manager and head coach. “I’m getting to see some of the younger players, guys who will be playing for me in the next year or two down the road, which I think is a good match.”
The team is stocked primarily with John Stark players – seven varsity and JV members, as well as two prospects from Weare Middle School – but also draws from Pembroke, Merrimack Valley, Hopkinton and Hillsboro-Deering,
“It’s nice to see different kids coming from all around the area, trying to get as much baseball in as they can,” said assistant coach Andrew Clay, a rising junior and pitcher for Colby-Sawyer and former Hopkinton player. “I’m sure all those neighboring towns, coaches and teams are really interested in having places for their kids to go and play.”
It’s not Pelletier’s first foray into summer ball. He managed a Weare team until this season in the 19U New England Independent Baseball League, but became frustrated with a tendency for college players, rather than up-and-comers, to take up roster spots.
“When I started a summer program, my thought was I’ll take time … to develop my program at John Stark, which we need,” he said. “I had five or six college players on my team last year, so it was kind of drifting away from where I wanted it to go.”
All along, Pelletier had envisioned a feeder program for his rejuvenated John Stark program. The Generals went 12-4 this past season three years after a 3-13 campaign, and Pelletier was eager to capitalize on the area’s renewed interest in the sport.
“It had to trickle down,” he said. “We needed it to start at the top, varsity winning a few games, making it into the playoffs, and then start building off of that.”
Making the shift to Junior Legion, however, wasn’t easy. It certainly wasn’t quick. Pelletier had to approach the post in October to gain its support, and then keep up the pace throughout the winter and spring with a checklist that included getting uniforms, organizing a budget, booking fields, buying equipment and arranging a schedule. And more.
“Legion has more rules, there are specific dates you have to meet. They take everyone’s birth certificate to make sure everyone’s (proper) age and it has to be original birth certificates,” he said. “It’s very detailed.”
Where the coach felt he wouldn’t have to worry – an instinct that proved correct – was with turnout.
“I didn’t have any commitments, but I just had that feeling,” said Pelletier, who estimated that 25 players showed up for tryouts. “There have been a few Junior Legion teams that had to drop out because their numbers got too low. But we didn’t have that issue.”
He got good players, too. Nine of the 16 players were varsity starters last year. Jared Murray, one of three Pembroke starters alongside Cole Hapgood and Connor Locke, was a Division II third-team All-State player. Adam Tower, Ryan Rothdiener and Noah Greene started for John Stark, Taylor Hughes started for Merrimack Valley, Sean Morin started for Hillsboro-Deering and Henniker’s Jake Cole started for Division I Trinity.
“We have some very, very talented kids on the team as well, and that’s always nice to see,” said Clay, one of two assistants along with former General standout David Nelson. “(Players) who, from what I can tell, seem to have a lot of potential in the sport to have a future even at the collegiate level.”
Of course, some of John Stark’s rivals are getting some good out of this team, too. But Pelletier is more than happy to have them.
“I like helping kids learn how to play ball,” he said. “In all honesty, if you want the kids from the other towns to come, you’ve got to play it straight up. … If you don’t, you’re not going to get those kids. They’re going to say ‘He only plays his guys.’ And I think that really hurts you.”
Post 65 hasn’t had any trouble with the bats. Pitching – often diminished in juniors as the better arms head to Senior Legion – and defense have been a different story. Weare scored 14 runs in its second game of the season and still lost, 17-14.
“They got the field goal with about 30 seconds left in the game,” Pelletier joked.
There’s a difference in approach between coaching high school and Junior Legion players. If these were the Generals, Pelletier would be hard at work figuring out what pitching combinations he could use to prevent the runs from scoring. In Legion, however, the focus is on getting repetitions. Winning matters, but playing time and individual progression trump all.
“You’ve got to find that fine line,” Pelletier said, “while always remembering that it’s a developmental team.”
With the abundance of John Stark players on the team, Pelletier is confident that that development is taking place in the form of comfort and chemistry with one another – a mix that’s vital to the Generals remaining in the hunt for Division II titles.
“When we play a Goffstown or we play a Portsmouth or somebody like that, those kids have been playing together since they were eight,” he said. “You need a full team in baseball to keep it going. … You need to have well-run teams. And I think this kind of thing we’re doing is definitely helping.”
(Drew Bonifant can be reached at 369-3340, abonifant@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @dbonifant.)