WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School baseball team’s senior class received a welcome surprise last week.
Westfield High baseball head coach Mike Kennedy and the rest of the Bombers coaching staff visited each of the team’s 11 seniors in a one-day, social distancing tour around the Whip City. Kennedy presented each of the senior players with a sign emblazoned with the player’s name and a quote from Carl Yastrzemski that reads: “I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning. I think about it all day and I dream about it at night. The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.”
“They’ve lost a lot this year,” coach Kennedy said in regards to the Class of 2020. “They were working out hard, ready to go, and then all of this happened. They were all heartbroken. …We wanted them to know the coaches were still thinking about them.”
In addition to missing out on proms and graduations and all the hoopla surrounding their final school days, Westfield’s senior baseball players are also going to miss out on a potential repeat trip to the West Division 1 finals thanks to the pandemic.
Last year, Westfield won nine of 10 games to earn a trip to the championship game where the Bombers fell to the East Longmeadow Spartans, 6-3.
With a large contingent of seniors, a talented junior class which includes the likes of Brian Strange, the son of former New York Mets pitcher Pat Strange; David Tirrell; and Brennan Jarvis, Westfield was abuzz with talk of a championship run.
“My expectations were through the roof for our team this year,” Westfield baseball senior captain Mike Hall said. “I thought we had all of the right pieces in order to bring home a Western Mass title, maybe even more, and I would’ve loved to have been a part of that.”
Fellow senior captain Mason Collingwood said he is especially disappointed for teammates like senior Matthew Bernatchez, who he said worked extremely hard to get to this point in his high school career.
“Matt put in so much work for senior year,” Collingwood explained. “He was always in The Batter’s Box working on his pitching, lifting weights.”
Collingwood said receiving the sign and seeing his coaches was a welcome distraction from the lost season.
“It was just nice for (coach Kennedy) to come out for us,” Collingwood said. “He always told us he was like family to us. We lost something really important to us and him.”
Said coach Kennedy: “They were entering a senior year trying to get a title that they missed out on last year. …From a team perspective they lost something they won’t be able to get back.”
Coach Kennedy said his wife, Lynn, was also instrumental in bringing the idea to life. “We wanted to thank them for their four years with us and how much they’re appreciated.”
