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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
You’ve Been Served
Collin County, TX
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Frisco Wakeland served notice by winning the District 9-3A title in just their second varsity season.
Frisco Wakeland made huge strides in just its second season. After finishing near .500 in 2007, the Wolverines won the 9-3A title with an 11-3 record, made the playoffs and finished the year with a 28-6-1 record. Wakeland went on to win two? Playoff series until its season ended at the hands of Pittsburg in the 3A Region II area round. We spoke with coach Paul Offill about the Wolverines breakthrough season and their future.
VYPE: How do you look back on your second season at Wakeland?
Offill: Coming into the year, we really felt like we could get into the playoffs. We knew if we played the way we were capable of, that we should be able to get in. We won a few key ballgames, got some help down at the end and ended up winning the district, which was big for us in our second year. Once we got into the playoffs, we never thought we were overmatched. We thought we were as good or better than everyone else and the kids performed. Getting to the regional semifinals was exciting and everybody wants more.
VYPE: Discuss the impact of losing five seniors.
Offill: Brad (Heathcock) is a great athlete who became a pretty good baseball player. His leadership will be hard to replace. On the field, he led off for two years and set a season record for hits. He’s going to give you everything he’s got every day and lays it all on the line and that’s going to be hard to replace. He’s such a mature young man and really understands things. If someone was down in the dumps, I could tell Brad to talk to them and he would pick them up. Colin (Reynolds), I have coached him since I was at Frisco High. He was outstanding for us out of the bullpen this year. He played pretty good third base and provided some pop in the lineup for us. We also lost Jordan Baker, Jon Kollman and Zach Stephens.
VYPE: Discuss your returning core.
Offill: Ryan (Johnson), (Nick) Buhler and Will Secord will be our top three pitchers coming back. They’re really going to have to pick up some slack because Jordan Baker threw 85 innings for us and was 8-2 but I have no doubt those guys can do it. Nick got hurt halfway through the year but had he not; his numbers would have been outstanding on the mound and at the plate. Landon (Baker), Ryan and Nick are the middle of our order next year. We will also have Greg McCall, our sophomore catcher in there. He did an outstanding job defensively behind the plate this year. He got some big hits for us and his on base percentage was .407. Those four guys will be who we will lean on next year to return to this point.
VYPE: How did you achieve such a balance with great hitting and great pitching?
Offill: Game in and game out, we knew we were going to get a solid game out of our starter. Jordan and Ryan were our No. 1 and No. 2 once we got into district. I remember one point in district when we didn’t get a 1-2-3 inning and I was shocked because I had gotten so used to those guys going out, throwing strikes and getting outs. On nights where we were getting hit around a little bit, it seemed like our offense always stepped up. We only had one or two guys hit over .300 but it seems like we always got the big hit. We had seven or eight come-from-behind victories throughout the year.
HSSTM: What was the turning point for your team this season?
VYPE: Back in December, we adopted a family at a church. It was a single mother with two little kids. We provided them with clothes, furniture and other things. Everyone got involved and you could see what a special group this was. I think we gave them a $500 Wal-Mart gift card and other gift cards. We gave them so much stuff, they filled up their house. After winning the Gunter-Prosper Tournament, it clicked that this could be the year because we were pretty solid at every position, had deep pitching and beat a good Prosper team in the championship and a good Gunter team the night before. That’s when I knew we had a chance to do something special.
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