Watervliet’s Soroka misses out on first season; seniors miss out on their final

WATERVLIET, NY » When Peter Soroka officially took over the Watervliet Head Baseball Coach job, the last thing he had expected was his first season to fall victim of the coronavirus.

Now, Soroka will need to wait another season to make his debut as the head coach of the Cannoneers.

“I had the two assistant coaches from last year carry over and they are both great guys. They stuck with me and there was a ton of excitement and optimism. We had put together a really strong offseason program,” said Soroka.

“We were really chomping at the bit to get the winter sports athletes freed up and the basketball players and wrestlers started.”

Soroka admits that the distance he has had with his team has, for lack of a better term, stunk. Baseball is a team of nine guys on a field, trying to keep the guy with the bat from getting to first base. When those nine guys aren’t together, it can take a toll.

“We were ready to go and then got shut down pretty quick,” said Soroka. “It’s tough because in sports, in any team sport, they are based on being together. Then, all

of a sudden, you are not together. It’s actually the polar opposite. You are being told to stay apart. It was tough.”

Soroka praised his team for the way they took the news and their understanding of the current situation in not only the Capital Region but the world.

“It was tough. There were a lot of emotions. I think the kids handled it extremely well,” said Soroka. “I think kids are a lot tougher than we give them credit for. For me, as my first year of coaching and the excitement I had, it was tough. Just a lot of emotions.”

Soroka admits that a lot of the emotions he felt were towards his four seniors: Ishan Khan, Thomas Gordon, Joe Forezzi, and Zach Bishop.

“Thomas came in as a basketball guy. He came in, and was an instant leader. Thomas surprised me, but he was going to be our leader and our captain no doubt,” said Soroka. “Ishan has got baseball DNA. He’s a strong lefty, was probably going to be our top pitcher this year. He was excited. He had come to winter workouts for pitching and had started to get into hitting. He was going to be one of our top guys.”

Soroka continued to talk about his seniors.

“Joe was going to one of our middle infielders and one of our leaders for sure. Zach had transferred from Stillwater at the beginning of his senior year. He was a quiet kid at a new school, but he had come to all the offseason workout stuff excited about playing. He was a nice surprise for us because we didn’t have him in our plans. He was going to be an extra arm and an extra hitter we were counting on. We were definitely pleasantly surprised. He was gelling with the established group.”

“They were going to play a big role this year,” said Soroka. “We had four returning seniors, a good amount of juniors, some sophomores, and even had some freshman we were going to rely on. We were a really nice, well-balanced team.”

Watervliet Baseball’s end results the last few seasons were less than desirable. A 3-15 finish last season left the Canonneers hoping to turn their fortunes around in 2020.

“It’s been tough sledding the last couple of years for Watervliet in the Colonial Council,” said Soroka. “We have the talent. We had a nice, diverse, group of talent this year. The kids needed to be taught how to compete, and fight, and believe in themselves a little bit. That’s where I was hoping to come in this year with those guys.”

Soroka plans on honoring his seniors but wants to do it right. With the everchanging situation of the

Watervliet Baseball takes on Mohonasen on May 4, 2019 at Joe Bruno Stadium for “Coaches vs. Cancer” pandemic, Soroka has yet to nail down a hard plan.

“Originally we were saying we may get back for some kind of schedule, and then we got to a point where they announced the kids weren’t going back to school and my original thought was to do some sort of celebration once we were allowed to get back together,” said Soroka. “Even now, who knows.”

Soroka really wants to get back together with his team in some capacity for one last group outing. The suddenness of finding out the season was canceled and school would remain online based for the remainder of the school year never allowed the players and coaches to come face to face for one last time.

“We feel like, and I know I certainly feel like, we didn’t have any closure,” said Soroka. “We were not able to talk to the kids as a group and recognize our group, especially the seniors. It’s tough.”

Soroka transitions to varsity from his last position as the head coach of the modified team. How does a lost season for that young group of players affect the future of Watervliet Baseball?

“We had really strong numbers for our younger level. It ebbs and flows throughout,” said Soroka. “I don’t know how this will impact us down the line. Baseball is a weird sport. There is certainly an age and a line where kids play it for fun. Once it starts to get competitive, they tail away from it. That happens around 10, 11 years old, once they come out of the youth sports. So a lot of times, you will see a lot of kids who were around at that 10-12-year-old level, but not come around when they are 13-14 for that modified level.”

Another factor Soroka admitted that affects the number of kids transitioning to modified and high school baseball is the lack of a transitional 50-70 diamond league for Watervliet. Something Soroka hopes to change in the future.

Right now, Soroka still reflects on a season that could have bee. What would Watervliet baseball had been in 2020 with such a promising roster and strong leadership group to lead the way?

Now, Soroka’s eyes are on 2021. He feels emotions for his juniors like Evan Smeltzer and Mikey Griffin who still get a senior season, but lost a season of college recruitment to the pandemic.

“I am going to look back and not only have some feelings on losing out on my first season, but losing out on this first group,” said Soroka. “This was really such a great group of kids, a great group of players. They were going to contribute from top to bottom. I feel so bad for the juniors, because there are some absolutely great baseball players as juniors — Kids get their looks when they are juniors. When baseball season comes around, seniors have already decided where they are going, so this was going to be a big year for them. It’s unfortunate.”