Proviso East Pirates
Last year the Pirates had an embarrassing season in the West
Suburban League. The thin silver lining
(and it was very thin) was the hope that their young team would mature in the
future and get a few wins before going into the state playoffs. Starting with the bright spot, the Pirates as
a 17th seed played the 16th seed Curie High School from
Chicago Public Schools and won by slaughter rule 11 – 1. Afterwards, they played against a crippled St.
Lawrence team suffering from multiple suspensions. In that game, junior pitcher Nathaniel Reese
battled behind a valiant defense until the life was slowly choked out of
them. Losing by only 5 runs to the team
that most experts thought would win the state title was a moral victory for the
Pirates who went win less in the West Suburban Conference. Coach Lidd was hopeful for the future of the
team as his starting lineup consisted of four freshman, two sophomores, two
juniors and one senior. “Chip”, the assistant coach was not as
hopeful. He had seen promise many times from
Proviso East, and many times he witnessed the bottom fall out. What “Chip,” suspected after that 11 – 1 victory
over Curie became reality. After the
transfer of the starting junior catcher to Willowbrook and the starting
freshman center-fielder to York, the Pirates troubles compiled when the Reese
brothers (Nathaniel and Jonathan) were told that they would not be allowed to
play for Proviso East as home school children were excluded from sports by order
of the athletic director. In 2012, the
Pirates went 0 – 18 in the West Suburban Conference. They did not score in seven of those loses;
and in 18 games they scored 28 runs while giving up 192. They will not get much help this year from
the sophomore team that will move up to varsity. The 2011 sophomore team lost 21 games in the
WSC, being shut out 13 times and allowing ten runs or more in all 21
games. Considering the loss of four
starters (2 returning sophomores and 2 seniors), It seems safe to say that the
Pirates face an even worst season than last year.
Proviso West Panthers had an equally disappointing season in
the WSC. They were over-matched in every
game and did not come within six runs to any opponent in the conference. Averaging 1 run per game and not scoring in
7, left the coaches searching for answers.
The answer did not come until two weeks before the 2013 season when the
Proviso West athletic director finally hired a new varsity baseball coach. Although the new coaching staff is young,
energetic, and knowledgeable, the tardiness in the hire will be crucial to this
team which was not afforded the opportunity to the allowed coaching contact
days or any open gym time for team members to come together. After giving up
143 runs in just 12 games, the Panthers could not afford to lose time on tightening
up their defense. It is obvious that
this team was not put in a position to succeed and it is highly unlikely that
the Panthers will have a better season in the WSC than last year. As bad as it seems for the Panthers, I give
them the edge over their rival Proviso East when the two teams meet in what may
very well be the only chance either team has to win a game in the WSC.
·
Stats and scores taken from athletics2000 the
official reporting site for the WSC
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