Beaten Tuatara hold heads high
After losing 6-2 to Melbourne Aces on Saturday night and being eliminated from the semifinal series 2-0, Tuatara manager Steve Mintz wanted to focus on what had been phenomenal season, rather than being swept.
The game played in front of 4208 spectators at North Harbour Stadium was as much a celebration of what the Tuatara have achieved, as it was about a do-or-die game.
After scoring two runs in the first inning, the Tuatara had a disastrous sixth, where Melbourne scored all of their runs and the Tuatara weren’t able to get back into the game.
‘‘We lost, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on it,’’ Mintz said.
‘‘The year that we’ve had, the crowd that came out here to back us and where baseball has come to in two years, those are the things we want to talk about.
‘‘Our goal this year was to play one home playoff game, but we didn’t know we were going to get 4200 people for it.
‘‘That being said, it’s been an unbelievable year.’’
The attendance showed how far the Tuatara have come, especially considering the attendances for their second home series of the season, against Canberra, were in the 200s.
‘‘We knew if we could do a few things, win some games, we knew we could win the people over and that was just evident in this game,’’ Mintz said.
‘‘The people, they love it and I’m sure they’re all looking forward to next year when we all come back and try again.
‘‘We have lot to hold our heads up about. Obviously we would have loved to move on [to the final], but it’s hard to linger on those things given what we’ve accomplished and been able to do this year.’’
The season started poorly for the Tuatara, winning just one of their first nine games, but over the middle part they were the best team in the league.
However, when it got to the pointy end, they’d lost the likes of Kyle Glogoski, Josh Morgan, Hever Bueno, Hansel Moreno, Lucas Jacobsen, who all went back to America. Results dropped away and they were in real danger of missing the playoffs.
But with their season on the line and in Josh Collmenter’s last game for the club before he too headed back to America the Tuatara won 1-0 against Brisbane in a dramatic game.
‘‘That’s got to be the biggest one of the year, clinching the playoff spot that night,’’ Mintz said when asked of his best moment of the season.
‘‘But also finishing in first place [in the Northeast Division], I think we were scheduled to be seventh (overall). The work all of these guys have done, the Kiwis, the imports, my coaching staff, it’s all been phenomenal.
‘‘Tomorrow we’ll start planning for next year, that’s how the game of baseball goes. But now, we’ll celebrate the year and what we’ve accomplished, then set loftier goals next year.’’
Mintz will return to America now the season is over and prepare for a new campaign with the Texas Rangers affiliated club Down East Wood Ducks, where he’s the pitching coach.
Having helped get the Tuatara this far, Mintz said he’d be keen to return next season.
‘‘We’ll talk,’’ he said. ‘‘Obviously, I’ve got to get back and speak with the Rangers and also see if the Tuatara want me to come back.’’