Fear of losing fuels quest for perfection

Tim Southall just wants to remind his Newburyport American Legion team that it is possible.

Theoretically, any team can still beat anyone, say, for instance, Danvers. That was only a 1-0 win, and the pitcher from Danvers threw a one-hitter at Newburyport.

It just so happened that the one hit was a home run by Newburyport's Tim Holland.

"I tried to tell [my players], this is a team that was 3-12 right now, and they were one pitch from beating you," said Southall. "Anybody can beat you on any given night."

He was telling this to a team that was 13-0 at midweek and, barring some kind of disaster, had the top slot in American Legion District 8 wrapped up.

But he was telling them out of obligation.

Most of his players have been thinking about running the table for a while. But with a week left in the season, it seems tangible.

"They know what they're going for," Southall said. "They know that they're trying to get to 17-0."

Is it the primary objective?

Doubtful.

This is a team still stinging from having its season come down to the last regular-season game for two straight summers - and losing both times.

The primary focus, in pitcher Joe Katin's eyes, is reaching the postseason any way possible.

The undefeated streak was just something they stumbled into, mostly out of fear for losing.

"If you lose more than five games in this league," Katin said, "you're not going to make" the playoffs.

What they would need instead is a recipe Southall never expected to work out the way it did.

Pitching and defense was always a key ingredient at Post 150, and that did not change this summer.

Holland is 3-0 with a 1.05 earned run average and just one walk in 20 innings. Katin has devoured innings, throwing 41 of the team's 103 innings this summer, striking out 36 hitters and posting a 1.02 ERA.

Cam Kneeland is another 5-0 guy, with 26 stikeouts in 26 2/3 innings.

The ace - "if you can call one guy an ace," Southall said - is Michael Johnson, who is 3-0, with 17 strikeouts.

"I've got four or five guys that can go out there and shut the lights down," Southall said.

But Newburyport is also working with a lineup that has given him 20 home runs in 20 games.

"Everyone's hitting the ball," said Holland, who is swinging at a .553 clip.

It's not just the bigger names. It's Roman Mondalto being one of the team's leaders in the eighth spot in the lineup and Kyle LeBlanc setting the table with a .432 average and 23 runs in the leadoff spot. It's the different ways Newburyport can put runs on the board.

"We can score when we need to," Southall said. "Guys can steal bases. We can beat you with small ball. We can bunt somebody over. And if we're in a slugfest and the pitchers are struggling, we can pound it out. We've done that several times this year."

Offense has a way of hogging the limelight, but Katin said most of the teams in District 8 still know Newburyport's calling card.

"They recognize the pitching," Katin said. "Everyone throws mid-80s. Everyone's pretty much a number one on their high school team."

Having that many arms sounds like a luxury, and it is. But what makes it all work is getting a bunch of star pitchers - and, for that matter, star players - to be selfless for a summer, which Newburyport has managed to do.

"Guys are sitting on my bench this year that would be starting for me," Southall said.

Post 150 pulls players from Newburyport, Amesbury, Georgetown, and Byfield, all Cape Ann League rivals during the high school season.

"There are at least four or five kids on our team that would hit four or five in any high school," Holland said. "When Legion ball comes around, everyone just drops it."

Holland is a Georgetown standout who was fully committed to go to Lake City Community College on scholarship. But after finding out that Lake City had decided to drop its athletics program, he landed a workout with Polk County Community College and earned a spot immediately.

"No one really cares anymore," he said of the Post 150 players. "We play as a team."

With the goal, of course, of getting to the postseason and, if possible, an undefeated record.