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In many ways, the Girard Academic Music Program baseball team can look at the 2006 season as a good one.
Here was June 5 and the Pioneers were still playing in a meaningful game. Add that it was an opening-round Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association home tournament match at Ashburn Field in FDR Park, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, and it set the perfect scene for a late spring day.
Well, almost.
On the field, GAMP and a strong crowd of supporters were hoping for a better outcome then a 7-1 defeat to St. Pius X, the District 1 representative. The home squad finished with three hits and five errors, which isn’t going to get the job done.
"At this point in the season, you’re going to see all good teams and you have to raise your level of play to that level," GAMP coach Art Kratchman said. "We didn’t play our usually clean game.
"I told them I am proud of them for making it this far, but we know it’s disappointing."
Last month, GAMP advanced to the Public League semifinals for the first time in four years, only to lose, 10-2, to Frankford.
Junior pitcher-first baseman Andrew Caines, a Second Team All-Public selection, had mixed feelings following Monday’s defeat.
"It’s a very good feeling to make it this far and represent Philadelphia," he said. "It’s a shame we couldn’t take it a little further."
The players still enjoyed being able to call Ashburn Field – named for former Phillie Hall-of-Fame outfielder Richie Ashburn – home for a day.
"I’ve been here before and it’s a beautiful field," Caines said.
Kratchman shared the favorable reviews.
"I am happy with our facility [Seventh Street and Packer Avenue], but this is a nice facility," he said. "This is top of the line and as nice as any field you’re going to see."
HAD GAMP WON, it would’ve loved it even more, but this day belonged to St. Pius X. The Pioneers fell behind, 3-0, in the top of the first and never seemed to recover. Offensively, through the first five innings, the team only had two runners reach base, neither of which advanced past first. When junior catcher Eric Funaro, who reached base on an error, scored the team’s lone run in the fifth, GAMP was trailing 7-1.
Caines credited St. Pius X for playing the better game.
"They were capitalizing on what we were doing wrong," he said. "All we needed to do was hit. If we would’ve hit more, [St. Pius] probably would’ve made more errors."
St. Pius finished with three errors.
The Pioneers can’t change the outcome – for this season, at least. The squad, which includes four juniors and four sophomores in the starting lineup, is very young.
"I think we have a good team," Kratchman said. "It’s hard to try and go win a big game with eight underclassmen in the starting lineup."
Now those underclassmen have gotten a real taste of what the postseason is all about. Last spring, the Pioneers traveled to Quakertown, where they lost 13-11 to Springfield Montco in an opening-round state tournament game. This season, they played in the Public League semifinals at Campbell’s Field in Camden. Starting outfielder Ryan Challender, along with John Dunn and John DeStefano, are the only players who won’t be back.
With a strong nucleus in place, Caines is confident his team’s time will come.
"I believe if we all play summer ball this year and keep on playing, we are going to be really good next year," Caines, who is playing for the American Legion Senators, said. "If we all stick together and become one, GAMP will be tough to beat next year."
Some of the players will get another chance to play later this month while representing the Public League in the Carpenter Cup, a high school baseball showcase getting under way June 12 at the University of Pennsylvania. The Public League will play its first game 9:30 a.m. June 14.
Taking that next leap in the postseason is what the Pioneers truly care about, but Kratchman said there is work to be done.
"We still have to play on the field and we’ve got to get better," he said. "The kids have got to be playing in the summer and I know a lot of them are playing summer baseball.
"We have got to get better in a baseball sense. When you’re playing at a very high level, you’ve got to bring you’re A game."
