Lacey Seniors Savor Last Days on the Diamond Together

They remember the days when all that mattered was getting ice cream at Mrs. Walker’s after the game, when winning was barely an afterthought.

Now, they’re just weeks from graduating from high school, and they’re still together.

Victor Kochanowski, Ryan Hanula, Brian Emerson and Anthony Marotta are now seniors at Lacey High School, playing baseball for the Lions and pondering futures that will take them down separate paths.

“How old were we, 5?” asked Emerson, a left-handed pitcher and first baseman.

“Yeah, 5,” said Hanula, a right-handed pitcher and right fielder.

“Back then, you just played to play the game,” said Marotta, a second baseman and shortstop.

“I remember my mom telling me I didn’t like tee ball,” said Kochanowski, a center fielder and right-handed pitcher, as his teammates chuckled.

Sitting at a picnic table at Clune Field, the four players reflected on baseball careers spent together. They have been through the ups and downs that come with playing a sport – good seasons, like when they won the Senior Minor League championship as 10-year-olds.

And they’ve been through tough times, too. This spring, the Lions have struggled  – as of Wednesday they were 4-10, which isn’t exactly the way any senior wants to finish out their high school career.

“It’s like a brotherhood,” Hanula said.

“We’ve been through tough times but we still stick together,” Marotta said. “Some problems can be pretty hard but we still support each other.”

The high school game is very demanding, but the four say there have been bright spots, including Emerson’s start against Manchester where Lacey lost 1-0.

“That was the best game we’ve played all season,” Emerson said. “After that game, then we beat Brick. We’re hoping to keep up that intensity.”

The four would like to see the Lions qualify for the state tournament and win a few tournament games, in part because they know their days together on the diamond are coming to a close. They play baseball for the Ocean County Lightning of the US Amateur Baseball League, but when that ends this summer, that likely will be the last time all four are together playing baseball. Kochanowski is headed to Wesley College in Delaware, where he will play baseball and is looking at studying sports management. Emerson is headed for Arcadia University, where he will pitch for the Division III Knights and plans to study business. Hanula, who plans to major in packaging science and engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology, has been recruited to pitch for the Tigers.

Only Marotta will forgo baseball in college, as he pursues a career in film and video studies at Drexel with the intent of becoming a movie director.

“To go all the way from tee ball to college means a lot,” Hanula said. “It’s a great feeling knowing I’ll have four more years of baseball.”

“When I was younger, people put me down,” Emerson said, noting that people criticized how hard he threw. He said he’s learned a great deal about control and placement of his pitches, and while he doesn’t throw hard, he has a lot of movement on his pitches. “To progress to college is great.”

Kochanowski – the quiet one of the group – spends more time in the outfield and is prized for his bat. He is two home runs away from the school record for career home runs.

The USABL is not only their last time together, it’s a chance to play the game for fun, the way they did when they were young.

“We all love baseball,” Marotta said.

As they wind up their last season together, playing baseball during the day, playing Xbox games against each other other times, one thing is certain, they said.

“We all love baseball,” Marotta said.

And they’ll always have the memories of many years spent on the diamond, of bonds made for a lifetime by the boys of summer.