Midwestern boy finds his place in Southern California
By Cheeto Barrera, Sports Editor, The Daily Independent
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"You're here for baseball, that's it. Just have a
good year, anything else will come into play.” |
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Mark Moriarty's trip to California started with an e-mail and a
chance encounter.
Thanks to a series of events that played out perfectly for Moriarty, he
ended up playing baseball for Cerro Coso and ended up winning the
Foothill Conference MVP award.
“I really wanted to play baseball and never got the shot,” Moriarty
said. “So over spring break I was with my dad and went over and said
let's see what happens.”
Moriarty was nursing a hamstring injury and was forced to sit out his
sophomore year playing for Elgin Community College in Elgin, Ill., a
year after the team advanced to the Junior College World Series.
As a result - choosing not to risk further injury to his leg - he began
in earnest looking for a new college to attend, which included an e-mail
to head coach Dick Adams.
Other schools had expressed interest in Moriarty and said he could come
out and tryout for the team. He was a little wary of making a
cross-country trek, spending money and being turned down.
But as luck would have it, Adams was on his way to New York on vacation
and would be passing by Chicago and agreed to make a denture so long as
Moriarty could make all the arrangements for a tryout.
The day Adams and Moriarty were scheduled to meet, it forecast called
for rain - rain that never came.
“I was talking over with my dad and he said you only have one day to do
this, make sure you show it off. It was supposed to rain that day, but
it ended up being a good sunny day,” Moriarty said.
As a result of rehabbing his hamstring, Moriarty was not in the best
shape to be playing baseball, a little tidbit he hid from Adams.
Adams had him start out in the outfield, having a few balls hit to him,
then got moved to the infield where the lack of training began to show.
“I'm getting mass ground balls and I'm not in baseball shape at all and
I'm sweating and he asks ‘are you out of shape a little bit?' I said, ‘naw,
it's hot. It's the humidity.'”
Adams, however, acknowledged that he knew Moriarty was still getting
over his hamstring pull, but knew the right fielder would be an asset to
the team.
“I could tell he was going be aggressive and he had an eagerness to
play,” Adams said. “He is physically strong for size, but then kid's
left handed and in our park that's a plus, plus. And he has a quick
bat.”
Inspite of it all, the day finished well. He took some batting practice
and finished his session with a homerun.
“He worked me out a couple more times and said “So, are you ready for
California?'” Moriarty said. “I said yea, definitely, I am.”
Moriarty has since fallen in love with the warmer climate that
California has to offer.
When he first made the move, he had the Hollywood stereotype in his head
of sunny beaches, surfing and the whole bit. Instead he found the High
Desert in an out of the way community, but said that was just fine with
him.
“I couldn't complain. Obviously I'm here for two things: School and
baseball,” Moriarty said. “The other stuff I can wait on. I just
figured, you know what, the town is small and everything, but I'm still
playing in Southern California. I'm playing with the best of the best. I
just wanted to show California that guys from the Midwest could still
play. Guys from Chicago can still play. ... It didn't really bother me.
It's a little bit different from back home, but I could live with it.”
Having just one year of junior college eligibility left, Moriarty is now
being courted by several four-year schools from all levels. Moriarity
said he would rather stay in the warm weather, which may narrow his
choices, but he credits California for making him the player he's
become.
“I just think coming out to California being a guy from the Midwest, you
just become a much better player,” Moriarty said. “Just by the fact
you're never in a gym. I think the only time we were in a gym was
running laps early in the morning. I think we got rained out once. And I
think we could have played but coach was like no, we'll just wait for
tomorrow.”
It took Moriarty a little bit of time to get acclimated to the level of
play out West, but once he clicked, he was unstoppable.
“He slumped the first three weeks of season,” Adams said. “He just
couldn't get comfortable. He's that kind of young man that once he does
get comfortable he just goes.”
Moriarty hit .546 to led the Foothill and hit above .400 for the year.
He also had 53 hits and 35 RBIs.
“He just went on a tare. You never saw him slump in conference, he went
in on a tare. That's why his conference batting average was about 100
points higher than his overall average.”
And he had speed to boot, stealing 12 bases out of 17 attempts.
“I just want to hang with these guys and at least show that guys from
Chicago and the Midwest can still play,” Moriarty. “I had written down
goals of what I wanted to be. I had written down bat over .400, do all
this. Never did I write down be the player of the year or the MVP and
all that stuff. I just wanted to make a good impression.”
The team had its ups and downs this year, including winning just five of
their first 17 games. But then, the Coyotes won 11 of 15 in the month of
March and carried that into April taking two of three from the
conference leading Chaffey.
“Beating Chaffey two out of three, that was awesome,” Moriarty said.
“Basically, our backs were against the wall where your only move was
either forward or you're out of it. So taking two out of three, I
thought was really good.”
Until Cerro Coso had pulled off the weekend sweep, Chaffey had been
undefeated in Conference play.
“We did our thing. We beat Chaffey. We beat the top guys. We all just
kind of said we all deserve to be heard just as much as they do,”
Moriarty said.
The win kept Cerro Coso's playoff hopes alive until the very next week
when the Rio Hondo swept the Coyotes and eliminated them from the post
season picture.
“Taking that loss didn't really hit us until it was over when it was
basically playing for pride,” Moriarty said. “It was just like wow, the
season's over, no playoffs. Which was different, back where I'm from
everyone makes the playoffs. And out here, only two teams make it.”
Moriarty has high hopes for the Coyotes next season, which should be
returning a good number of players from a freshmen dominated lineup.
“For some reason, it's like someone turns on a light switch, everything
just clicks,” Moriarty said of players entering their sophomore year of
play. “Either going the other way, or hit and run or just becoming a
better player. You can't teach experience.”
For incoming freshmen, Moriarty said playing at Cerro Coso is no
different than playing anywhere else so long as your attitude is about
playing the game and not the extra curriculars that some other cities
have to offer.
“If you're in a big town, little town, you're here for two reasons:
Obviously school and baseball. Everything else doesn't matter,” Moriarty
said. “It's cool to say we did this or we did that, but what it all
comes down to is you're here to play ball. It's all the same. That's
what I would tell them. If you care about what town you're living in,
you'd better check what sport that you're doing. You're here for
baseball, that's it. Just have a good year, anything else will come into
play.”
Overall, Moriarty said his experience in Ridgecrest was a positive one.
He said he had a unique experience here that he couldn't get in Chicago,
rooming with three other people that he didn't know and who didn't know
each other.
Back home, Moriarty said, guys were picked up from the local areas so he
knew most of the players he was teammates with or played against.
In Ridgecrest, however, especially in his house, Moriarty got a chance
to expand his experience and friendships beyond people from his school
or city.
“Met great people, great friendships, that's the stuff I'm going to
miss,” Moriarty said. “All the awards, once the playing days are over,
yea that's fun to talk about. But it's the camaraderie, the van rides,
the hotels and all that stuff, having fun there. That's the stuff I'm
going to miss and cherish. Getting to meet all these guys ... that's
what I'm going to miss around here. Other than that, it was a great
season. I couldn't have asked for more.”
May 15, 2008
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The Daily Independent. Used by permission.
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