SANFORD — Okay. So the Sanford Mainers might have fallen a little short of capturing their third NECBL championship, this year.
That doesn’t mean that the 2010 season, which ended Wednesday with their playoff elimination by the North Shore Navigators, was a washout.
In fact it was anything but.
Mainers fans were treated to hard-nosed, sometimes spine-tingling baseball almost every night, while making Goodall Park a York County magnet of activity.
Within reach of the Eastern Division lead from the first weekend until the last, the Mainers wound up finishing third (23-19), then fought for their playoff lives against North Shore right up until the very last strike.
“I was excited about what this team could do,” said second year Mainers manager Aaron Izaryk. “We reached the end of our rope, unfortunately. It’s unfortunate to end any season. It kind of leaves you speechless.”
More importantly, the Mainers themselves became markedly better ball players from the moment they assembled at Goodall in early June.
And that’s why college players stream into Sanford from all corners of the country.
To form one team playing with one agenda, then head back to their campuses much richer for the experience.
“Absolutely,” said versatile outfielder/catcher Pat Cantwell, a Stony Brook U. sophomore. “One hundred percent.”
Said second baseman Joe Wendle, a sophomore at West Chester U., “It’s such a quick thing. You come and you know nobody, and when you leave, you know everybody. You’re good friends. It’s something you don’t want to see end. That’s baseball.”
Wendle came here from WCU as that school’s leading hitter. Yet, after hitting .311 and finishing ninth among the NECBL’s hitters, he says he’s heading home with a lot more polish.
“No doubt about it,” he said. “It’s better competition than I’m used to. Swinging a wooden bat all summer and getting 200 more at bats. The more you play, the better you get.”
Matt Marra enjoyed his Mainers’ experience in 2009 so much that he eagerly jumped at the chance to have a second Sanford summer.
“Both years were great,” said Marra, a junior-to-be at LeMoyne U. “Sanford did me a lot of good. I made a lot of friends. Coach Izzy (Izaryk) is a great coach, and I think our team really got close, this year. We all hung out together on off days and after games. We all got to know each other, and got pretty close. I think this year was pretty special.”
Marra was one of half a dozen returnees from the 2009 squad, a high number by NECBL standards.
If Izaryk has his way, the Mainer roster will have greater continuity from each year to the next.
“You don’t get a lot of returners in this league,” said Izaryk, who recently ended his eight-year association with UMaine baseball to take the reins of the program at Bridgton Academy. “I’d like to start it where you do get guys back. Not just for our team, but for our fans. To have guys get familiar with Sanford, and the league.”
And what about managerial continuity?
“I’d love to come back,” Izaryk said. “If they’ll have me.”
That might be the surest thing in baseball.
— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.
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