A relay good show
Trojans, Crusaders cruise to gold medals in 3,200
Parkland’s 3,200-meter relay teams focused on eliminating pressure at Tuesday’s EPC Track & Field Championships.
“We were saying before the race that this is the dress rehearsal for districts,” girls anchor Lana Hurwitz said, “where you need to perform to go to states.
“We’re trying, but we’re not pushing it.”
Hurwitz teamed with Madi Seed, Gracie Trexler and Addi Shevlin to cruise to league gold in 9:42.14.
The Parkland boys used Tuesday’s final as an opportunity to go sub-8 minutes and perhaps finalize a lineup.
“We switched Praveen (Sureshkumar) and Tyler (Rothrock) back to the order we ran at the Shippensburg Invite,” anchor Brady Hoffman said. “That’s when we ran (8:00.47). We thought, ‘Why not go with what worked then?’”
Rothrock, the lone underclassman, went back to the leadoff spot and Sureshkumar moved to the second position. The Trojans didn’t run sub-8 minutes, but they lowered their time from the Shippensburg Invite to 8:00.42 to win league gold and break the EPC meet record (8:05.60 was the previous mark).
Parkland’s boys, which struggled in last year’s postseason when it changed lineups, plans to stay with Tuesday’s foursome moving forward.
Notre Dame-Green Pond’s boys may have found the proper order and participants in the Colonial League 3,200 relay after its latest lineup ran an 8:21.14 to cruise to the title.
Michael Maslonka is the veteran member in his third year on this relay team. John Paul Pierce, who missed much of last season because of an injury, is in his first year with the group. Leadoff runner Alec Miner never ran an open 800 before this season while anchor Abraham Sasso is among the league’s best 800 runners.
a stretch, then, to say that the defending NL champs won’t go anywhere unless their two best pitchers are able to get on a roll.
This week would be a nice time to start.
“For sure, I see them making progress inside of the season but also just getting back to who they are,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said Sunday. “They’ve been better — a lot better.”
Said catcher J.T. Realmuto: “I do feel like they’re heading on the right track.”
New pace affecting pitchers:
Here’s the thing: Expectations may need to be recalibrated. Not for Nola and Wheeler, specifically, but for every starter in baseball. Because the sport is different in 2023, and much less forgiving to pitchers.
The Phillies anticipated that Nola and Wheeler may encounter bumps after playing until the sixth game of the World Series — on the fifth night of November. Cotham studied recent examples of pitchers who thrived after a shorter-than-usual offseason. Head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit and director of strength and conditioning Morgan Gregory weighed in. Manager Rob Thomson and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski shared anecdotal experience from past years.
Ultimately, the Phillies devised a plan. Nola and
Wheeler wouldn’t alter the timing of their offseason programs, but rather ramp it up more gradually than usual.
“It’s worked out, definitely from a health perspective,” Cotham said. “It felt like they were prepared but not overtaxed coming into camp. We’re here.”
But there’s another variable at play. The pitch clock, which requires pitchers to deliver the ball in 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on, has had a wide-ranging impact. Entering the week, the average starter’s ERA was 4.52 in the NL and 4.56 across the majors, up from 4.04 and 3.91 through the same date (May 7) last year.
“I definitely think it’s different for every pitcher,” Realmuto said, “but it’s harder on guys now.”
For one thing, pitchers who were always taught to slow the pace when runners reach base are permitted to step off the rubber only twice per plate appearance, including on pickoff throws. Thomson also noted that pitchers have less time to recover between innings because games are moving more quickly.
“They’ve never had to rush through things,” Realmuto said. “It’s always been a game where they control the speed, they control the pace. If they need to take a breath, if they need to take a second to think, it’s theirs to do. Now, it’s like they’re forced to get back on the mound and make a pitch.”