High schools:
Softball and baseball players of the year, All-Metro teams
It wasn’t the perfect ending to a resounding high school sports career that 2017 Metro Baseball Player of the Year Tim Tague had hoped for.
The Miramonte-Orinda senior — with an 11-0 record and 0.81 ERA to go with a .342 batting average and steady play from shortstop — led his team to 27 straight victories before a 4-3 defeat to Drake-San Anselmo in the North Coast Section Division 3 final June 3 burst the Matadors’ green and silver balloon.
But Tague immediately found a silver lining. After all, 27-1 ain’t shabby.
“Even had we won, it would have been tough because it was over,” Tague said. “Pitch by pitch, inning by inning, game by game, we were so locked in and had so much fun doing it. Winning 27 straight games was crazy. We all became so close. We gave it our all and have no regrets. I wouldn’t want any other coaches or teammates, and a win or loss wouldn’t change that. The most important thing is we did it all together.”
Tague, a straight-A student and Eagle Scout, didn’t need much time to put the setback in perspective. Upbeat, smart, a captain for all his teams, the All-Metro second-team quarterback sees all fields as plentiful.
“Great kid, great leader,” said baseball coach Vince Dell’Aquila.
Said Miramonte football coach Jack Schram: “Grounded. Compassionate. He’s the prototypical All-American kid.”
Besides, he’s got all the perspective he needs right at home.
In fact, Tague couldn’t wait to meet up with his younger sister, Nicole, after the Drake loss. The 13-year-old was born with Phelan-McDermid syndrome, a rare chromosomal disorder that causes low muscle tone, severe speech challenges and profound mental disability. There have been only about 1,000 diagnosed with the disorder, which was once incorrectly associated with autism.
An electronic device helps her communicate, but truthfully, Tague said, only he, dad Skip, mom Anna, and sisters Caroline, 20, and Bridget, 16, understand Nicole.
“She’s super active,” said Tague, 18. “She rides horses. Swims. Plays baseball. She’s one big ball of emotion. Always smiling. Always dancing. We all love her so much.”
Big brother probably understands her best. The two connect at the heart, said Skip. At one point, doctors suggested that the round-the-clock care for Nicole might require her to move into a facility.
“It was a pretty gut-wrenching time,” Skip said.
Tim wrote his dad a letter: “I will do whatever it takes to keep Nicole home. … Quit baseball. Not go to college. Whatever.” Nicole stayed. Besides, Tim Tague has never quit anything. Despite a laundry list of significant injuries, the 6-foot, 185-pounder missed only half a football season as a sophomore.
Among his ailments: a torn meniscus in his right knee, six oral surgeries due to defects in his teeth, a broken foot, a broken toe, a severe ankle sprain and a stress fracture in his back.
As a two-year football starter, he threw for nearly 7,000 yards, accounted for 90 touchdowns and helped his team post a 22-5 record. His pitching line over the last two baseball seasons: 18-1, 0.87 ERA, 102 strikeouts, 18 walks, 112 innings.
He’ll play both sports at Division III Washington University in St. Louis and major in engineering.
“They’re getting a steal,” Schram said. “Tim is such a great competitor. Nothing gets him down.”
He was thrown for a loop during X-rays of his back in 2015. A tumor was found in his thyroid, but tests indicated it was benign. It requires regular checkups, but Tague barely blinks.
The tumor “was a little scary,” Tague conceded. “But the rest of (the injuries) are just bumps in the road.”
Advice from his parents — “don’t worry about what you can’t control,” they often tell him; “attitude and effort is everything” — has smoothed the bumps. Nicole’s presence has flattened them.
“How can I ever complain?” Tague said. “I get injured, a doctor tells me the treatment, I follow it and I’m better in a couple of weeks. Nicole was born with this condition, and it’s a fight every day. It’s not going to change. Yet she’s so joyful. She plays her music. She dances. No matter what mood I’m in, she always turns me around. She always puts a smile on my face.”
“Tim is such a great competitor. Nothing gets him down.” Jack Schram, Miramonte football coach