Boys of Summer: SteepleCats Return to Joe Wolfe

By Ryan Holmes
iBerkshires Sports
12:54AM / Friday, June 12, 2009

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Courtesy SteepleCats/Nick Mantello & Holly Pelczynski The 'Cats are back in North Adams.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Thunderstorms, great host families and chicken parm subs are just a few of the reasons to come back to North Adams for the summer. Playing baseball for a winning, community-driven organization is yet another.

Those examples and many more are reason enough to convince a handful of coaches and players to return to the North Adams SteepleCats this summer. The NECBL club, now in its eighth year, officially kicked off the 2009 season with a 2-1 road loss to the Keene Swamp Bats last Friday. Jeff Verplancke's squad opened its home schedule with a 5-3 loss to the Danbury Westerners last Saturday before picking up its first win of the season with a 6-5 victory over the Vermont Mountaineers on Sunday.

It's usually hard for NECBL teams to keep familiar faces coming back from year to year. The league has turned into quite a stepping-stone, a showcase for both managers and players to take their games to the next level. But somehow General Manager Sean McGrath worked out a great return policy this year, as all three of his coaches and three more of his players are back to build off the success of 2008.

Jeff Verplancke, a special-education teacher from Ontario, Calif., returns for his third straight season. He previously was the SteepleCats' pitching coach in 2007 before stepping up to become the head coach last year. In his first season as coach, Verplancke led the team to a 20-22 record and its seventh straight postseason appearance.

"Every year is more familiar and it's easier to get acquainted with," Verplancke said during the SteepleCats' Media Night last week. "I enjoy working with the kids. My wife and I are both teachers, so it gives us the summer away from home. We have a good relationship with Sean and [owner] John [DeRosa], so it makes it easy."

Joining Verplancke on the coaching staff this year is pair of assistants who will be starting their second season on the bench. Many of the North Adams fans will remember Sean Conley, who had two very successful seasons as a SteepleCats player prior to joining the coaching staff last season. Conley was an NECBL All-Star in 2006 before finishing up his college career at Pittsburgh with a .296 average.

Fellow assistant Jeremiah Valenzuela also returns this season after coaching the 'Cats infielders and hitters in 2008. Previously, Valenzuela coached alongside Verplancke at Colony High School in California in 2007.

Conley and Valenzuela have been working with the players while Verplancke finished up his teaching duties in California. The SteepleCats coach only arrived in North Adams last Thursday, giving him exactly one day to get to know all of his players before the season began. Verplancke said it typically takes his staff anywhere between seven to 14 games to evaluate their personnel and put the best nine players out on the field.

"It really takes us the first week of games to feel these guys out and see what they can do in a game," Verplancke said. "Then we kind of adjust from there. We have a good feel for what our pitchers are going to give us. After opening weekend, we're going to know a lot about our pitchers right away.

"For the hitters, some of them will take a littler longer to get adjusted to the wood. It will take us a little longer to put them in positions where they can succeed, maybe bat them in the right spot in the order or what not. We might have guys that are hitting eighth this weekend and two weeks from now, they'll be our leadoff guy or hitting in our No. 2 or No. 3 hole."

One of the players Verplancke is very familiar with already is University of Rhode Island junior Tim Boyce. The Swansea native made a big impact with the SteepleCats last year, going 7-1 with a 0.95 ERA to earn NECBL Pitcher of the Year honors. Boyce also was the Southern Division starter for the NECBL All-Star Game and his seven wins, 65 strikeouts and 57 innings pitched were all league highs last season.

"It was a great experience," Boyce said. "I didn’t really know what to expect coming in. I got a great host family, and the organization was great to me."

Boyce said his host family, Lisa and Tom Richards of North Adams, and the success he had here last year were major factors in his decision to come back to the Tunnel City.

"It's definitely a lot easier this year," Boyce said. "I'm a pretty quiet kid, so it took me while to get used to everybody and the surroundings last year, but I feel really good about it right now."

Just how long Boyce sticks around for is up in the air, however. Like many of the talented players who have graced Joe Wolfe Field in recent years, Boyce's success in the NECBL could cause him to leave North Adams early. There is a good chance he will be selected the MLB draft on Tuesday night, meaning he might be shipped off to the club's farm system.

"I'm looking forward to this coming draft," Boyce said. "I think I have a shot to get drafted in the middle rounds maybe. Coming here definitely helped my stock last summer and helped me to become a better pitcher."

Boyce has made plans to be in North Adams for the summer, but his dream to play in the majors someday, so he has to answer the phone if MLB teams come calling.

"It will be a great experience and an opportunity if that happens, but I'm just hoping for the best."

And if they don't?

"I hope to pick up where I started last summer," Boyce said. "I struggled a little bit this college season. I pitched better toward the end of the year, so hopefully I can pick up where I left off."

Two years ago, the SteepleCats lost one of their most talented players when Jeremy Hamilton left early to go play for the USA National Team. Even though the regular season is only two months long, it's not uncommon to see a few players come and go as the summer goes along. According to North Adams first baseman Paul Hoilman, this is the common dynamic involved with summer league baseball.

"I guess you kind of know it's there," Hoilman said when asked about the possibility of losing a teammate to the draft. "But you get to know your teammates, love them and play with them every day. If somebody goes, a new guy comes in. You embrace them and start over. It's a lot of fun."

Hoilman is another returning All-Star coming back to the SteepleCats this year. The East Tennessee State sophomore led the team with 27 RBI and 27 walks last year before an illness cut his season short. He cited a number of different reasons why he chose to come back this year.

"I had a great time here last year and liked the coaches and the general manager a lot," he said. "It was a good experience and my host family (Ann Racine) was great."

A native of Tennessee, Hoilman said the only other time he came to New England prior to last summer was when he took a trip to Harvard in high school. So what does he think of his new summer home?

"It's different, but they are a lot of mountains like Tennessee," Hoilman said. "It's kind of a home away from home."

Hoilman said some other perks about his experience include the SteepleCats' off-field activities such as skydiving, going to a Red Sox game and white-water rafting. They're also some of North Adams culinary delights, such as the chicken parmesan sub at Angelina's, which he calls one of his favorites.

It was Verplancke who cited one of the strangest reasons to love coming to North Adams: rain. As a native of Southern California, he can appreciate the occasional rain shower and the slower, friendlier pace the Berkshires provide.

"Everyone talks about California weather, but to be honest, I like coming out here and seeing the thunderstorms and how quickly things change," Verplancke said. "I enjoy the people too, obviously, and the support the community gives to the team is awesome. These people have been very genuine and very good to myself and my family."

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