Good year shaping up for Wildcats

About 10 years ago, the Kentville senior Wildcats fielded a lineup with few - if any - holes. It wasn’t surprising they not only won the Nova Scotia Senior Baseball League championship in 1999, but repeated the following year.

The Wildcats remain the only team (other than Dartmouth) to have won back-to-back league titles since 1990, when the current Moosehead Dry “dynasty” began.

Truth be known, Kentville came within a whisker of winning four straight league titles, losing to Dartmouth in 1997 and 1998 in a pair of classic NSSBL finals that each took the maximum seven games.

The 2008 Wildcats, which began the year with four straight wins, already put me in mind of those Kentville teams of the late 90s – except this year’s edition might be a bit better.

The Kentville teams of the late ‘90s had quality players at every position and could beat an opponent in a number of different ways.

This year’s squad, during the season-opening series against Sydney, showed me more depth, using two players at most positions. Moreover, the ’Cats seemed to have success regardless of who they put on the field.

Dartmouth has won 14 of the last 18 NSSBL championships with a combination of time-tested veterans interspersed with talented younger players. It’s a formula that has worked well over the years - at the expense of other league teams, including Kentville.

The 2008 Wildcats appear to be taking a page from Dartmouth’s book – or at least their own from the late ‘90s, having put together an impressive mix of youth and experience.

Even though they’ve been around for a while now, it’s still hard to think of players like Ian and Mike Lockhart as true “veterans.”

Yes, the Wildcats don’t hit many home runs anymore (and don’t need to rely on the long ball in order to win), but they play strong fundamental baseball - and aren’t even afraid to employ “small-ball” tactics in an effort to gain an advantage.

Just because a team has a lot of experience doesn’t guarantee it will have what it takes to win. There are other factors at play: team chemistry, which can be a huge factor; and whether players are being paid to perform or not.

One of the few knocks on Chris Salsman as a head coach is he admittedly never felt fully comfortable with coaching his friends and former teammates. Early indications are that might not be as much of an impediment for new player/ coach Jeff Lockhart.

I like the idea Lockhart not only has a good handle on what players he has at his disposal, buthe also isn’t afraid to use them all - including the youngsters. Catcher Kevin Benjamin and outfielders Brad Steadman (already a successful intermediate player) and Rob Shepherd have the potential to become solid senior-level players, but they won’t get there by sitting on the bench and watching. Lockhart has already made a point of getting these younger players into games and letting them take their licks, for better or worse (so far, mostly for better).

He obviously is well aware that’s how the “era group” of late ’90s Wildcats – Salsman, Mike King, Luke Smith, Todd Benjamin and the like – earned their NSSBL stripes (and won those back-to-back championships). The team is fortunate a handful of those veterans are still around to help the younger players make the transition.

Even though the NSSBL schedule isn’t exactly kind to teams with a glut of pitching depth, the 2008 Wildcats appear to be espousing the theory that you can’t ever have too much pitching.

Lockhart expressed a desire prior to the season to use Curtis Falls as a closer – something it appears he might just end up having the luxury of doing.

Nichols is certainly a quality starter, the recently-returned Tim Clayton should still be capable of eating up innings and, if the 2008 Kentville debut of former Montreal Expos farmhand Trevor Wamback (five innings of shutout ball in a 7-0 win over Halifax) is any indication, he could end up being a pleasant surprise.

Kevin Daurie, who recently won the 60th game of his long and remarkable Wildcats’ career, and Corey Kent are both solid spot starters. Taylor Welch and former Dartmouth hurler Pete Sonier would appear solid in relief.

With Falls as a potential closer, and with the schedule the way it is, that should be more than enough for the ’Cats to compete with anyone in the league, including Dartmouth.

Since no one in the NSSBL is likely to go 29-0, it probably won’t be necessary to beat anyone - even Dartmouth - every time you play them, as long as you can find a way to win when it counts. That’s what Dartmouth has made a habit of these past 18 years.