Five Things To Remember About the 2011 Rams Baseball Season

It’s hard to put into words my feelings about the 2011 Spring-Ford Rams High School baseball season, which is one that will not soon be forgotten. That being said, I would like to share my "5 THINGS" that I will remember from this season in order with number one being the most indelible memory for me.

5. THE BIG GUNS - Designated hitter Ryan Conway’s power surge during the most critical stretch of the year at the district and state playoffs. He pounded the cover off of the ball to the tune of five home runs, two triples and three doubles. He drove in 15 runs in the span of 20 at bats. Conway ended the season with six round trippers, but the crash off the bat on Sean Larkin’s jack job in the second inning of a 6-0 win over class AAA district one runner up Pope John Paul II, is still echoing through Rams Stadium.

4. OH NO YOU DIDN'T - Sometimes throughout the year, lost in the barrage of double digit offensive outputs and ten run mercy rule shortened games, was the effort of the pitching staff as a whole. Two no-hitters on the year: one by Josh Mellon in a solo effort and another in a sensational combined effort in which Mellon gave way to Pat Medley in the final two innings. They combined for a whitewashing of Upper Perk. What can be said about Mike Oczypok and his 14-0 record with one save and a microscopic ERA that remained under 0.50 for the entire season?

3. REMEMBERING CONNOR - It seems odd that a 3-0 shut out loss to Owen J. Roberts would make this list. But on a night where the Rams' bats were almost poetically silent in memory of Spring-Ford sophomore Conor McKenna, who lost his 19 month battle with cancer, Sean Larkin pitches arguably his best game of the season. He fanned 11 Wildcats in a complete game effort.

“Conor had a passion for baseball,” said father Tim McKenna in an emotional address to the huge crowd as he stood next to Conor’s number 35, which had been painted on the field behind a batters box that Conor had stood in many times.

“He played it, read it, watched it, lived it and loved it. Baseball was what he did. He loved the game and his teammates.”

2. NEVER SAY DIE - The bottom of the seventh, come-from-behind win against Council Rock South. On a day that very few breaks went the Rams' way, will be one I will never forget. In the fitting way that Ricky Gorrell got things started as he had done so many times throughout a stellar career at Spring-Ford; to the way it culminated as another person contributing, when Josh Cratsenberg drove in the winning run.

1. YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART - If there is one memory that I will carry with me forever it will be the remarkable ability for this group of extraordinary young men to never quit and come from behind. They withstood adversity with poise and class. This team exhibited more heart and determination than any other team I have had the pleasure for covering. I think head coach Bruce Brobst said it best when it came to describing his team.

“These guys battle until the very end and will never quit," Brobst said. "They and I believe that if one guy does not get it done the next will and they believe in each other.”

Yes, they got it done time and time again. Tom Grablewski, Ricky Gorrell, James Hoff, Mike Oczypok, Josh Mellon, Pat Medley, Sean Larkin, who no matter if the Rams won by ten or had a late inning crash for a loss, was always first to step up and talk about what they did well and what they had to work on.

It has been a privilege and an honor to follow, photograph and write about young men that truly epitomize what any father would want a son to be and people that I am proud to know. You truly will be successful in anything you do and have been role models to many Spring-Ford area boys that hope someday to don the blue and gold.