Spring Sports Preview 2017

2 THE HEIGHTS | March 2, 2017

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW MICHAEL STREM

DOUBLED DOWN

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

As Birdball’s pitching staff faces heavy turnover, Michael Strem—the ‘Doubles Machine’—will be tasked with leading a lineup that hopes to return to the NCAA tournament.

Alec Greaney | A1 Editor

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hen his collegiate baseball career began in the spring of 2014, no one seemed to want to give Michael Strem a chance to hit.

It started with his own team. He had arrived in Chestnut Hill hoping to find a steady role as a two-way player, having both pitched and played the infield in high school. He took fielding drills and some batting practice with the position players in the fall and early spring, but spent the majority of his first few months in the bullpen for Boston College.

When he did get a shot to step to the plate, his opponents didn’t let him swing.

Teams had no reason to pitch around the blonde, 5-foot-10 kid, who had ‘RHP’ and ‘Fr’ listed next to his name on the roster sheet. But early on, that’s just what happened. In his first plate appearance on Feb. 22, 2014, Strem came in to pinch-hit with two outs in the top of the ninth, his team up 8-0. He saw four-straight balls.

In his next plate appearance five days later, he came in again to pinch-hit, this time in the annual exhibition against the Boston Red Sox. Four more consecutive balls.

“It was weird, my first four plate appearances were all walks, and they were all on four pitches,” Strem said. “I was just like, ‘God, am I ever going to get to swing?’”

He didn’t pick up his first official at-bat for about a month, when he got another pinch-hitting opportunity in the ninth— this time with BC down 8-0 against Wake Forest. Three more balls passed him, but so did the first strike. When the second one came, he took his first career swing, and blasted a shot down the left-field line for his first career hit.

Appropriately enough, it was also his first double—one of many more to come for BC’s ‘Doubles Machine.’ f there’s one thing Mike Gambino seems to love to see in a recruit— besides the positive character aspects exemplified by former player Peter “Sonny” Nictakis and embodied by each new recipient of his No. 8 jersey—it’s flexibility. He has filled the field in the past with high school shortstops, tinkering to bring out new strengths in players he often admires for their athleticism.

Strem falls right in line with that crowd. He had never stepped foot in the outfield before college, occupying the infield with his big bat. During his senior season at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif., the native hit .417 with 22 RBIs (and 13 doubles) in 33 games. That was also the year he picked up pitching for his high school team. And he was pretty good at that, too.

He went 11-1 in 14 games with a 1.30 ERA and a strikeout/walk ratio hovering near five. That wasn’t the special part, though. On May 15, 2013, Strem came out feeling good in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs.

Really, really good.

So good that he retired all 21 opponents in the seven-inning game in order.

And in a fashion that would’ve made his future Birdball teammate Mike King proud, he did so on just 66 pitches.

“Everybody knew it was going on, but nobody wanted to say anything,” said his father, Mark, who was present that day.

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“Michael is one of those guys who is pretty low-key, that he was excited on the inside … extremely proud, but not over the top.”

It made sense for Strem to pursue this type of dual role on a collegiate level. It isn’t easy—practicing and dedicating all your effort to one aspect of the game is hard enough, let alone trying to fine-tune both major parts at the same time.

But it can be done successfully. Wake Forest’s Will Craig, who won the ACC Player of the Year Award in 2016, hit .379 while picking up nine saves out of the ’pen.

Donovan Casey, a RHP/RF, has shown that two-way players can have success at BC, hitting .273 with a 1.17 ERA in an injury-shortened season last year.

That role just wasn’t in the cards for Strem.

On April 1, he made his first start in the outfield, where Gambino had sent him to try out for just one day during BP. It was where he belonged, even if he had never once played a game there.

“I’ve been hitting my whole life, and pitching was kind of new-ish,” Strem said. “[Pitching] was fun. But I’d much rather hit, that’s for sure.”

His main problem on the mound hadn’t been a lack of control, exactly—he gave up just one walk in his outings, and according to Gambino, probably would have settled into a more consistent pitching role had he not proven himself as a such commodity in the field. But some part of Strem, even before he’d started hitting, already had a connection to two-baggers.

Of the 13 hits that Strem allowed, six went for doubles. He just can’t avoid them. o one is exactly sure when Strem was first dubbed with the nickname. The general consensus is that it started catching on sometime around the end of his freshman year or very early on in his sophomore season. The first official record on Twitter came from former Heights sports editor Connor Mellas, but he—and a couple other members of the team—say Zanna Ollove, the team’s sports information director, was the first to start it up.

“Even as a freshmen, Michael had a knack for hitting doubles and it was something the coaching staff talked about,” Ollove said in an email. “I wanted to convey that to our fans. I guess the nickname—and hashtag—just stuck ....”

He hasn’t given anyone a reason to stop using it. After that first two-base hit his freshman year, he hit 12 more, making it 13 doubles in 26 games where he had at least one at-bat. Had he played in each of the team’s 55 games that year and hit doubles at the same rate, he would have finished with 27.5 doubles. Round up to a clean 28, and that’s more than anyone in the country that year. Dansby Swanson, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2015 MLB Draft, tied for first with 27. But that took Swanson 72 games.

That’s another thing about Strem: his durability. Once his performance convinced Gambino he needed to be a regular piece in the lineup, he hasn’t left. Strem was one of just three players to start every game last season, and one of just two the year before.

“I love it,” Strem said. “Your body’s tired, but especially on ACC weekends, you have so much adrenaline … all the

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pain and soreness just kinda goes away.”

It has also helped him climb Birdball’s record books. He cracked the top-10 in career doubles before the end of last season, sitting sixth with 47. He should have no trouble getting to at least second—with two doubles in the opening weekend against Bethune-Cookman, he needs just four more after that to tie Jason Delaney and former teammate Joe Cronin for second. First place might be more of a reach—Drew Locke bashed a nice 69 from 2002-05—but it’s hardly out of the question.

“There was one point I think he had more doubles than singles,” Gambino said.

(Of his 22 hits freshman year, 13 were two-baggers, and he had more doubles than singles for the first three weeks of 2015, too.) “It felt like every time he got up, everything he hit was in the gap.”

How exactly does Strem bash the doubles, anyway? His summer coach has one idea.

“Just a beautiful inside-out swing, he goes with the pitch,” Rodriguez said. “If it’s outside, he goes with it, he doesn’t try to pull everything.”

And his spring coach another.

“Hit ’em where they ain’t,” Gambino said. “He’s a good hitter … he’s just one of those guys who has a really good feel for the barrel. And he hits the ball in the middle of the field a lot … guys make their living between those two gaps.”

And Strem himself?

“I guess I just have the right swing for hitting doubles, or whatever. I don’t know,” he said, genuinely modest. “Just swing hard and hope you hit it into a gap.” trem has always been a winner.

His school teams and travel teams were always successful, and he was always a big part of the reason why. A high school senior with that type of background might pause at the sight of their future team going 12-40, as BC baseball did in 2013. Not Strem, who knew full-well that he was joining a team undergoing more than a facelift.

“One of the things that Michael liked [about BC] was the idea of building a program, and being a part of that building process,” Mark said. “It’s worked out for him.”

Since Strem joined the team, BC has improved by at least five wins each season, culminating in a 35-22 year in which the Eagles earned a trip to the NCAA tournament and reached a Super Regional, BC’s latest finish since 1967. He and his teammates have a hundred great different memories from that spring and early summer, but none greater for him than

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watching the tournament selection show with his teammates. The Eagles were the very last team to be named on the show, a moment that could not have been scripted with more Hollywood-level drama.

Birdball faces new challenges this year.

Besides the couple seniors that graduated, the team lost its top-two starters and catcher. Sophomore Gian Martellini and freshman Aaron Soucy will settle in behind the plate this season, where Nick Sciortino once squatted. But replacing Justin Dunn and King—both aces, who helped BC’s staff be one of the more dominant rotations in the ACC—is a bigger task. Sophomore Jacob Stevens, the third member of last year’s trio, should hold his own in the Friday night role, but the two weekend days could be rockier territory on the mound.

In other words, for BC to repeat its tournament run, it will look for its position players to pick up some slack.

The defense is covered. The duo of Adams and Jake Palomaki up the middle is one of the surest in the ACC, while Gambino acknowledged the outfield may be one of the strongest he has assembled in a while. Freshman Dante Baldelli, who (for once) is actually a natural outfielder, will likely man center more and more as he gets comfortable at the plate. He will be flanked on either side by Strem—who Gambino approached before the season, and had no issue moving over if needed— and Casey, two position players with arms strong enough to pitch and an underrated amount of speed.

That just leaves the bats. Hitting, overall, was probably the Eagles’ biggest weakness last season. The team finished third-to-last in the ACC in nearly every offensive category besides home runs (dead last) and stolen bases (third overall). It wasn’t a slugging team—it was a squad that manufactured just enough runs to win, going 12-3 overall and 7-3 in the ACC in one-run games, both conference-bests.

Though he ne ver put up Chris Shaw-esque numbers, Strem has proven

his spot in the heart of the order. He hit .296 in 2015 and a team-leading .301 in 2016. He had 28 RBI in 2015 and 32 in 2016, while scoring 30 runs both years.

Besides walks, which dipped slightly, the only statistic where Strem really dropped in was doubles. But unlike Adams, who at times has slumped, and Casey, who has missed games for injury, Strem has been as steady as can be, entering 86 percent of games in the past two years with an average of at least .290, and never letting that mark dip below .270 after February.

“Mike is just consistent, I don’t even know how to explain it [any better],” Rodriguez said.

It’s that consistency, game after game, that almost makes Strem overlooked. He doesn’t have the flashy power numbers of Shaw, or the heater of Dunn. He has his doubles, but other than that he just shows up and does everything well.

“People since the beginning of sports, people follow people who succeed the most, who do everything right,” Hoggarth said. “He’s one of those people that you want to surround yourself around, because he’ll make you better … you know if you’re around him, you’re going to be alright.”

Both of Strem’s recent coaches believe he’ll have a chance to play professional baseball, be it on the mound or at the plate—Gambino says he would feel comfortable putting him just about anywhere except catcher. Strem hasn’t quite gotten that far yet.

There’s still the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. next week, where he’ll have the chance to grab dinner with Hoggarth, who lives in the Sunshine State. There’s still “unfinished business” with Miami, who will makes its first trip to Shea Field since 2013 at the perfect time. And there’s another set of playoffs to make, the now-annual goal for Birdball since it proved it could play with the big boys.

Strem was exactly the type of foundation that BC baseball needed to build on and get to that point. Now it’ll need him more than ever to lead the way back.

Fortunately for his team, he’s prob- ably already halfway to home.

March 2, 2017 | THE HEIGHTS 3

DONOVAN CASEY SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW

All Joking Aside

Donovan Casey may be a prankster off the field, but come game time, he plays harder than anyone else.

Michael Sullivan Editor-in-Chief

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

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he bus doors veered open to the right, cutting through the thick, damp June air. For now, the rains had stopped over Coral Gables—though in South Florida, they can come back at any moment, given the occasional flash of lightning beyond Marlins Park over the horizon.

From the gate by the left field foul pole, Boston College baseball traveled in a clump. On the luscious green grass of Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park, the quality of which this team couldn’t even imagine, the Eagles surrounded the third-base dugout. A team that had been threatened for the chopping block had made it to a Super Regional against a perennial powerhouse, the University of Miami. As the players grabbed their equipment and trotted onto the dirt, their brows grew taut and serious, eyes focused, and mouths in a straight line. Each of the Eagles had his game face on.

Donovan Casey doesn’t have a game face.

Well, not that kind anyway.

Instead, he sports a bright smile that infects all those around him. His eyes are bright, relaxed, and wide open. And, at last returning to his natural habitat, he just had to do the thing that brings him arguably as much joy as baseball: mess with his teammates.

As the Eagles lined up at home plate, Casey would creep behind them, one by one, knocking their Louisville Sluggers or Mizunos onto the ground. If he was lucky, they’d stumble with the bats. The pitchers weren’t exempt— Casey is an equal-opportunity prankster, considering he identifies with the guys on the mound as much as the ones in the field. As Justin Dunn, the day’s starting pitcher, stretched with a foam roller, Casey calmly walked over and knocked it out from under him. It’s these kinds of stunts that Casey believes keep the team in the right mindset. For his biggest victim, first baseman and roommate Mitch Bigras, it perfectly embodies him. And for a family like Birdball, it’s necessary.

“Everything he does, it’s something you’d laugh at,” Bigras said. “That’s the stuff you’d remember from Donovan: Playing hard, making jokes, getting hits.”

But those three qualities can’t quantify the junior from Stratford, N.J. Casey doesn’t just play hard, make jokes, and get hits. He can lay a bunt down for a hit and steal second to get into scoring position. He can dive for a ball along Shea Field’s foul lines or throw a runner out at third. He can take to the mound in the bottom of the ninth with arguably the ACC’s best changeup. And he can take charge as a leader who cares more about his teammates than anyone else.

He isn’t just a goofy, sweet-swinging right fielder in the background anymore. Donovan Casey is the every-tool player that BC needs. roy Casey loves his stickshift 2005 Chevrolet Corvette C6. With a fire-engine red exterior and sleek, leather exterior, the Corvette would be the prized possession of any middle-aged, postmid-life-crisis father. And no one is allowed to sit in the driver’s seat. Except for his son.

“Donovan is the only person I’d ever trust while I’m asleep in the car,” Troy said.

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Throughout his youth and high school baseball career, the two dotted the map driving the Corvette. One summer, Troy recalled, they tallied almost 2,000 miles in the car, traversing the South to take on the country’s best baseball players. Donovan’s favorite memory comes from a trip to the birthplace of the sport, Cooperstown, N.Y. On one Labor Day weekend, the Caseys passed the Susquehanna Hot Air Balloon Festival. The two pulled off I-84 and took pictures of the multicolored spectacle for hours.

But of course, whenever he took a break from the car he loves as much as his dad, Donovan was playing ball with one goal in mind: be the best player on any team for which he played.

He first proved that on the mound. Instead of toying with breaking balls or straight heat, Casey developed a devastating changeup.

Casey’s change is his primary outpitch— Gambino said he can hit the mid-90s with his four-seamer, but will make a 14-m.p.h drop once he throws on the third finger. It’s a troublesome pitch for college players, but it was practically unhittable.

Troy recalled the first time he realized that his son had an 80-grade change. At an AAU national tournament in Myrtle Beach, Casey’s team, the South Jersey Young Guns, faced a big deficit to their rival, the Tri-State Arsenal.

His coach put Casey on the mound—the Arsenal never threatened again, giving the Young Guns time to mount a comeback. In the championship game, Casey threw another five scoreless. Knowing Casey had reached his innings limit, Troy recalled, the other coach ran out of his dugout screaming “He’s out of innings!” It was no matter, though. The Young Guns were already en route to their first national championship, and it was another of the gritty performances that caused Casey’s dad to bestow upon him the nickname, “Dirtball”.

By the time he reached Sterling High School, varsity baseball head coach Chris Hoffman saw a future for Casey. But it wasn’t just on the mound. After 15 minutes of hitting fungoes to Casey, his assistant coach had to stop tryouts.

“He told me, ‘I have your center fielder for the next four years,’” Hoffman said.

Unlike other outfielders, Hoffman said, Casey doesn’t rely on a ton of speed to cover ground. Rather, his aptitude was simply Mike Trout-esque—even if it made him nervous that Casey insisted on playing so shallow. To this day, Hoffman hasn’t seen a player with the instincts of Casey. Even as a freshman, he would be halfway to the ball before it was in play, feeling the direction in which the batter pulled the ball—his father credits his electric reaction time to the black belt he earned as a 12-year-old.

That skill in the outfield matched his play at the plate. Hoffman lauded Casey for his level, doubles-minded swing. He had a fantastic eye at the plate—his senior year, Casey only struck out seven times. Casey hit .370 that season, though Hoffman insisted that Casey felt he could hit .500 if he had a little more luck.

That strength as a center fielder didn’t keep Casey from the mound—far from it. As

a junior, Casey became the team’s ace. After a rough first outing, Casey had a season for the ages. He went 7-1 with an ERA of 0.11, ending the season on a 41-inning scoreless streak.

His best moments, unsurprisingly, came in the playoffs. In that magical junior season, Sterling faced Manchester Township in the quarterfinals. Though it was May, Hoffman said it was no warmer than 40 degrees with the wind blowing in. Casey battled against a solid pitcher, leaving each inning scoreless.

But Hoffman recalled Casey’s reassurances in the dugout.

“Just get one, just get one, just get one,” Casey said. “We’re going to get one, because they’re not going to get any.”

Sure enough, after nine scoreless and 120 pitches, Manchester Township didn’t get any. And in the bottom of the ninth, Sterling got the one it needed. His senior year, Casey matched that performance against West Deptford. He struck out 12 and drove in four—including a two-run, 350-foot home run to the power alley in right—in the 13-3 win. espite all that on-field success, it was a class trip to the mountains that changed the trajectory of Casey’s baseball career.

The winter entering Casey’s sophomore year, Troy received a phone call from the hospital. His son had crashed while snowboarding and broken his left wrist—doctors estimated he could throw in six weeks’ time. His coach for the Young Guns played it safe and wouldn’t let him on any travel trips to the warmer weather.

Casey couldn’t handle sitting for that long, regardless of any doctor’s orders. But Bob Barth, head coach of the Tri-State Arsenal, believed Casey could still play, or at least work out, during the injury. So, after a nasty spat with the Young Guns coach, he left the team.

When Barth saw Casey in his office to sign up, the coach wondered why it had taken him so long to join the Arsenal.

“Coach Barth,” Casey said, “you never asked me.”

Impressed enough with his talent and leadership on the field, Barth soon called a good friend: Mike Gambino. Soon, the BC head coach began trailing Casey wherever he went. Troy remembers seeing him in Georgia and Florida, though of course, the NCAA barred the two from interacting.

But one trip to the desert made Gambino jump from liking Casey to needing to have him.

He had seen the numbers and heard the stories of his teammates. But one question remained: how much heart did he have on the field? Little did Gambino know he was dealing with Dirtball.

In the August going into his senior year, Casey entered a tournament in Arizona. Because of the summer heat, games had to be played either early in the morning or late at night. But a rare Arizona rain forced a game to be played in the face-melting heat of high noon. Casey’s team was getting blown out in the late innings when he hit a groundball

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.287

Batting Average

46 1.17 Runs Scored

Earned Run Avg.

ALEC GREANEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR

to the second baseman, the most routine of plays.

Instead of jogging it out lightly to return to the dugout with a fan and Powerade, Casey busted down the line as hard as he could, and nearly beat it out. The second after that play, Gambino offered him his first scholarship.

“A kid that’s that competitive, that runs that hard on a meaningless ground ball, in a meaningless game, in 148-degree weather, that kid is going to help you win,” Gambino said.

For Casey, he loved Gambino’s pitch that BC—with its poor facilities and rare home games—was the hardest place in the country to play. Casey adored the family aspect inspired by Pete Frates, the former team captain who has become the face of the movement to cure Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). And it helped that Gambino said everyone plays like he does: with reckless abandon.

“I play like every play is my last time on the field,” Casey said.

double by Michael Strem. He’d then get the game-winning single in the 13th.

Even without playing—with a broken hand, no less—Casey had helped his Eagles to the victory that would spark them on the path to Miami. o pass the time with the injury, Casey returned to his other favorite pastime: screwing with Bigras.

“Oh, he knows where to push my buttons,” Bigras said.

Casey has become legendary among his teammates for how he can get someone at any moment. Even Gambino can sense it—one of his favorite stories Casey tells is when he poured baby powder all over his dad’s bed as a 10-year-old to create a giant puff of white smoke when he jumped onto it.

But no one gets it worse than Bigras. The two have been roommates the last couple of years, and Casey never misses an opportunity.

On a trip to Port Charlotte, Fla. in Feb. 2016, Casey faked that he was Bigras in the hotel

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“Yeah, that’s Donovan doing Donovan things.”

-Mitch Bigras

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he adjustment to ACC play was no problem for Casey. In his freshman year, Casey slotted well into fivehole after beginning in low-pressure, bottomof-the-order situations. He hit .298, a much higher average than the first-year campaigns of Johnny Adams, Michael Strem, Nick Sciortino, or even Chris Shaw. As Casey attests, a lot of those hits were in the infield—the ones he loves to beat out—rather than the gappers he wants. And, to build up his strength, Gambino strayed from using him in that two-way capacity.

So by 2016, Casey prepared to make the jump from contributor to centerpiece. He started strong with an average in the mid.300s as late as mid-March. On the mound, he hadn’t given up a run in his first five appearances.

Yet Casey’s kind of gritty play came at a huge cost.

The Eagles eyed a home-series win against then-defending champion Virginia in the rubber game on April 10. Tied at one in the bottom of the eighth, Casey led off looking to get something started. He knocked a Baltimore chop over the head of the third baseman.

Most players would’ve been content with a single—Casey eyed second base right away.

In a Superman dive reminiscent of Pete Rose, Casey dove into the bag, his left hand first.

Immediately, he knew something was wrong.

Gambino tried jogging out to him, but Casey waved off his advances. The Eagles didn’t score, so Casey went out to right field the next inning, his glove placed precariously over his swollen left hand. After the inning, Gambino checked on him—“no, Coach,” he replied. “I’m good.”

“C’mon, you’re tougher than this, you’re used to this,” Casey thought as he flexed his hand.

By the time his spot in the order came up in the 10th, Gambino knew something was up. Instead of practicing swings, Casey was mocking drag bunts, like he’d do back in freshman year. So again, he approached Casey.

“And all he said to me was, ‘I think I can hit,’” Gambino said. “A hustle double turned into a broken hand, and he was still trying to compete for his team.”

Finally, Gambino was forced to remove Casey from the game. Scott Braren replaced him in the lineup to leadoff the 10th, now down 4-1. Braren singled and would come around to score on a game-tying three-base

lobby to take his room key. He snuck upstairs, tied all of his shoelaces together, and threw them out the window, Rapunzel style.

Then, he took all of Bigras’ underwear, ran them under the sink, and put them in the freezer. Finally, he took all of Bigras’ pillows— his signature move—just for good measure.

“He wasn’t too happy, and he knew exactly who did it,” Casey said, incapable of holding back a smile.

His biggest hit came last season alongside teammates Jake Palomaki and Joe Cronin. The group lived in a six-man suite in Stayer Hall, when they came out to find Bigras’ clothes all over the common room. Casey asked Bigras politely—so he claims—to pick up the clothes.

When Bigras refused, Casey took action. He tied all of the laundry together, threw the rope out the window, and ran it up a tree across Campanella Way. When Bigras found the line, he had to climb the tree to get it down.

“He’s a target,” Casey said. “I love to mess with the kid.”

Bigras, on the other hand, wasn’t as thrilled.

“Yeah, that’s Donovan doing Donovan things,” Bigras said. ow that he’s back on the field full-time, the question is whether Casey has recovered well enough to become the three-hole/cleanup hitter Gambino expects of him. That includes taking advantage of the gaps, using his speed to make pitchers nervous with bunts or steals, and going bombs away.

Casey has shown flashes of what he can be after returning from the broken hand for the NCAA Tournament. In his first game back against Tulane, Casey notched a double, single, two runs scored, and a hit-by-pitch.

Against Miami, Casey went 4-for-12 with four RBIs, three runs scored, and a home run. Without his impact bat, it’s hard to imagine BC would have been as competitive against the high-powered Hurricanes offense. Coupled with the occasional save opportunity Gambino is sure to give him, Casey will eye to continue a rise to stardom.

But, letting out an exasperated sigh, Bigras knows one thing. No matter how hard Donovan ‘Dirtball’ Casey plays on the field, no matter how big of a name he becomes, nothing will save him from the pranks that are sure to come this season.

Playing hard, making jokes, getting hits. Yeah, that’s Donovan doing Donovan things.

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4 THE HEIGHTS | March 2, 2017

March 2, 2017 | THE HEIGHTS 5

ADAMS AND PALOMAKI SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW

MEN

IN

THE

MIDDLE

“If you were going to talk about the all-time best combination at Boston College, you have to talk about those two.”

Shortstop Johnny Adams and second baseman Jake Palomaki are BC’s catalysts at the plate and maestros in the field.

Riley Overend | Sports Editor

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High School, taking shape as the well-rounded, mature leader that Birdball knows today. A four-year Honor Roll student and varsity letterwinner, Adams captained both the baseball and basketball teams at Walpole. By his junior year, he already had a league title under his belt and was the only Massachusetts player on USA Baseball’s North Atlantic roster. But his senior season was even better: Adams secured Walpole’s Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year Award after bringing the school another Bay State League title and earning first-team all-state honors.

For Adams, the decision to play ACC baseball in his backyard was a no-brainer. But the learning curve for the most competitive collegiate conference in the country was steep and unforgiving for a freshman immediately thrust into starting roles. Adams, nicknamed “The Pup” because he “probably looked lost,” struggled at the plate in his first year for the Eagles, hitting just .223. As a sophomore, he raised his average to .240. Still, offensively, he seemed like a far cry from the man who was built for the big stage.

But all the indicators of second-half success were there, albeit concealed within the statsheet. See, there’s something about late April and May—or the fact that Birdball can finally play at home—that causes Adams’ bat to heat up. Even in his freshman season, Adams caught fire toward the end, stringing together a thencareer-best 10-game hitting streak from April 25 to May 15.

The next year, Adams again switched into gear late in the season—this time on April 24—as he found his stroke and managed a seven-game hit streak through May 2. On April 24 of the following year, the junior’s internal clock sounded an alarm: It was time for another hitting streak. During Adams’ team- and career-best 14-game streak, he tallied 20 hits, nine runs, 13 RBIs, and five doubles, ultimately reaching base in 19 consecutive contests.

The Eagles’ coaching staff knew that Adams was a certified Baseball Guy, tried and true, and that his hard work would eventually pay off. What they didn’t know was that the Pup would be even better in June.

It took Adams 144 games in a BC uniform before he played a game in the season’s final month. But when he finally got his chance, boy did he make the most of it.

During the three-game series in the Oxford Regional, the Eagles’ first NCAA Tournament berth in seven years, Adams exploded for seven hits, four doubles, three RBIs, and three runs. He did most of his damage in the regional championship against No. 15 Tulane, going 4-for-4 with three doubles, three RBIs, and two runs as BC advanced to the first Super Regional in program history. Adams was honored with the Most Outstanding Player award for his performance.

Like his affinity for late-April streaks, it turns out that the Pup also has a history of success in June. In 2015, Adams transformed a 10-day contract in the Cape Cod League into a full summer with the Harwich Mariners, stealing the starting shortstop role and catching the eyes of MLB scouts. By August, he was Harwich’s Team MVP, an East Division All-Star, and the winner of the Manny Robello 10th Man Award for dedication and sportsmanship.

Those who have played with and coached Adams know that the stress of a temporary contract is nothing to him. No, it’s not that he’s desensitized to the pressure—he feeds off of it. s often as coaches preach about having an approach at the plate, the importance of entering the batter’s box with a calculated strategy cannot be overstated.

A power hitter like

Single-Season Records 14-game hit streak

6th all-time

168 assists in 2015

3rd all-time

39 double plays in 2015 4th all-time

Donovan Casey might look for a first-pitch fastball to drive into the gap. A doubles machine like Michael Strem might sit on an inside pitch that he can turn on down the left field line. Each guy has a different approach based on his strengths and the situation at hand.

Mak always has a simple objective: get on base by any means possible. Patience is his secret weapon, and he wields it with his pinpoint eye for the zone. Last year, Mak drew 42 walks, the second-most in program history behind the record 46 walks he set as a freshman in 2015. With nine hitby-pitches last season, he also has a knack for getting in the way of pitches. Mak isn’t just a hard out—he’s a pitcher’s worst nightmare.

For opposing teams, keeping Mak off the bases is a numbers game that they’re unlikely to win. Whether it’s a righty or lefty on the rubber, Mak owns an advantage before the at-bat has even begun because he can hit from both sides of the plate.

As a freshman, he batted .289— a good average, but not one that immediately jumps off the page—yet he got on base at a whopping .447 rate.

Mak’s .421 on-base percentage over his first two years ranks si xth in B C history.

“We thought he’d walk, we thought he’d

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2016 Oxford Regional Most Outstanding Player *4-for-4 in championship game with three doubles and three RBIs.

Jake Palomaki 2016 By the Numbers reached base in 40%

of at bats while on base, he scored 54% of the time and stole a base 22% of the time hit, we thought he’d steal bags—just always be in the middle of stuff,” Gambino said. “And that’s kind of who he is right now. A lot of times when we have good-sized rallies going, he’s part of it. He’s a pain to pitch to.”

Once Mak reaches the basepaths, he’s even more of a pest for pitchers. The speedster stole 19 bases last year, ranking him third on the Eagles’ all-time single-season list. Perhaps even more telling, he scored a team-high 46 runs. That means when Mak is on base, he scores over half of the time (54 percent) and steals successfully almost a quarter of the time (22 percent).

His performance in the leadoff slot seems to defy all logic. Hitting first in the order is generally considered more challenging than most roles—after all, every other position in the lineup has the luxury of observing how the pitches move in previous at-bats. Plus, the leadoff hitter often has a responsibility not to swing at the first couple pitches for the benefit of the dugout to gauge the opposing pitcher’s arsenal.

But Mak cherishes the No. 1 spot in the lineup. He actually performs better in the leadoff slot than anywhere else in the order, batting .404 at the top of the order last year and a ridiculous .533 in 2015. He toes the line between regimented and scrappy, matching his early patience with gritty hacks when he falls behind in

two-strike holes.

Mak’s biggest assets is his ability to work the count, make the pitcher work, and avoid striking out. No BC position player struck out less than Mak during his freshman year, as he posted a ridiculous 2.00 BB/K ratio.

For reference, Ben Zobrist of the Chicago Cubs led the MLB with a 1.17 BB/K ratio last season.

His pitch selection and propensity for putting the ball in play are also what make him Gambino’s steadiest situational hitter. Like Adams, Mak is an expert bunter and a serious threat with runners on base. Most notably, Mak went 10-for-15 with a runner on third and less than two outs in 2015.

To trace the roots of Mak’s fundamentally-sound style, you have to travel over 1,000 miles to Kennesaw, Ga. That’s where the Palomaki family moved to when Jake was a child, ditching Michigan’s harsh winters for a warm environment in which he could play yearround baseball. They didn’t choose Kennesaw solely for the weather, though—the city is also home to the East Cobb Baseball Club, a massive travel ball program that effectively functions as a farm system for young Georgia talent. East Cobb alumni include Buster Posey, Javier Baez, Brandon Phillips, Jason Heyward, and Brian McCann, to name a few.

Despite his training and accomplished high school career, Mak was never a highly-touted recruit, likely due to his size. At 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, his measurables didn’t “wow” scouts. But his intangibles caught the eyes of the Birdball coaching staff. In fact, the Eagles were the only non-military academy to offer Mak a spot on their roster.

And, just like that, the man who escaped the cold to pursue a baseball career decided to return for the same purpose. or the three months leading up to BC’s home opener on March 24, the Birds nest in the Bubble over Alumni Stadium for offseason training. In case you aren’t familiar, the Bubble is an indoor practice facility of sorts, erected annually on the Alumni Stadium field after football season.

At first, it doesn’t seem like a bad deal. The Eagles take batting practice and field ground balls on the Bubble’s turf while Shea Field is coated with snow. But adapting to the harsh conditions of the Northeast isn’t nearly as nice as having year-round sunny weather that other ACC competitors enjoy.

Swinging inside the comfort of the Bubble and fielding easy

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Palomaki is on pace to shatter BC’s all-time walks record

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n darts, Danishes, and baseball diamonds, everything starts in the middle.

Well, technically, each play begins on the mound with the pitcher. For all intents and purposes, though, the middle infield duo is the heart of the defense.

To a casual fan, the shortstop and second baseman may not seem much different from other position players.

But with coaches confined to the dugout, the men in the middle are the unofficial coaches on the field.

Middle infielders are responsible for pickoffs, stolen-base coverage, backing up the catcher’s toss to the pitcher when runners are on base, turning double plays, facilitating cutoff throws, and more. On every pitch, the shortstop and second baseman peek at the catcher’s signal, evaluate where they should position themselves depending on the speed and location of the pitch, and move to that spot, subtly, without tipping off the batter.

It’s a job that requires a high baseball IQ and veteran leadership qualities, one that is absolutely essential for any team hoping to compete for a championship.

Luckily for Boston College baseball, everything starts with Johnny Adams and Jake Palomaki.

Adams, a senior shortstop, and Palomaki, a junior second baseman, epitomize Birdball’s philosophy: work harder than everyone else and carry yourself with class.

They’re the first ones at practice, the last to leave, and one of the best middle infield duos in the ACC as a result.

Offensively, it quite literally begins with Palomaki, the everyday leadoff hitter for the Eagles. Palomaki, known by his teammates simply as “Mak” (pronounced “Mawk”), has the eye of an Air Force pilot and the discipline of a Marine. Not only does he reach base at absurd rates, but he also sees plenty of pitches in the process, exhausting the opposing pitcher and making life easier for the bats behind him in the order.

Adams, meanwhile, often ends things at the plate for BC. Last year, he scored the game-winning run a team-high six times and drove in the game-winning run on three more occasions. Off the field, the team captain is a coach’s dream. From Walpole to Chestnut Hill to Cape Cod, sportsmanship awards seem to follow Adams wherever he goes.

Even the number on his back tells a story about his character. Last year, Adams became the first junior to ever wear No. 8 in memory of the late, great Peter ‘Sonny’ Nictakis—an honor unofficially reserved for senior leaders.

His teammates only had one question this year: Can we vote for Johnny again?

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, why not?’” head coach Mike Gambino said. “Sonny was the model of who we want our boys to be. Johnny’s an amazing representative of that number and of those values—so much so that the boys voted for him twice.”

Together, Adams and Mak are Gambino’s most reliable pair, starting all 57 games at the same position last year—the only two players to accomplish the feat. And together, they are the middlemen between Birdball and a return to the NCAA Tournament. here was something so predictable about the second-half explosion of Adams last year. To those who know him well, it certainly wasn’t a surprise. He has always seemed to click come crunch time—it’s quite literally in his DNA. Adams’ dad, Jay, played four years of baseball at BC, serving as captain of the 1987 team under legendary head coach Eddie Pellagrini. Jay and Johnny are the only father-son captain duo in the history of the program.

With baseball in his blood and a name like Johnny Adams, he was practically destined for greatness on the diamond.

“His dad taught him from a young age how to play the game the right way,” said Chris Costello, who coached Adams at Walpole High. “The way Johnny approaches baseball and life in general has everything to do with how he was raised.”

He started playing baseball at 3 years old, and by age 12, he was already on the national stage in Williamsport, Penn. for the Little League World Series. Adams started at shortstop for his hometown of Walpole in the team’s first matchup with Ohio. Clinging to a 3-2 lead in the final inning, Walpole called upon Adams to close out the game with two outs and the tying run on third base.

The baby-faced Adams mustered up his meanest stare and delivered an 0-2 fastball at 70 m.p.h. (equivalent to a 92 m.p.h. pitch from an MLB mound) that was intended to blow by the Ohio hitter. But the batter barreled up the high heat and sent a deep fly ball sailing over center fielder Mike Rando’s head. Turning his head in dismay, Adams watched as Rando ranged back, leaped over the outfield fence, and robbed Ohio of the potential walk-off home run, sealing the win for Walpole and prompting a frenzied celebration on the outfield grass.

Soon after the memorable LLWS victory, Adams emerged as a standout two-sport athlete at Walpole

Johnny Adams

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hops off of the pitch-perfect turf just isn’t the same as practicing outside on a dirt baseball diamond. The slow, smooth bounces of the Alumni Stadium turf tend to cause infielders’ footwork to suffer.

“If you had watched us take ground balls at Bethune-Cookman this weekend—it was hard and fast and on dirt—you’d have thought we had never taken ground balls in our life,” Gambino said.

That’s part of what makes Adams and Mak so impressive: they boast two of the best gloves in the country at a school where the cards are essentially stacked against them.

Despite the lack of practice on dirt infields— which are fast-paced and unpredictable compared to turf—Adams made just eight errors in 271 chances as a sophomore, posting a remarkable .970 fielding percentage. That same year, he ranked No. 3 on BC’s all-time single-season list with 168 assists and No. 4 with 39 double plays. Last season, Adams barely missed his mark from the previous year with 163 assists, still good enough for the fourth-most in program history.

Mak was close behind, committing 10 errors in 248 chances for a .960 fielding percentage last year.

He also has one of the best arms in the conference at his position—Gambino says he throws 92 m.p.h. off the mound—and he puts his cannon to good use on backhand plays up the middle and double-play turns.

His speed and athleticism allow him to make plays like his memorable snag against Georgia Tech, where he dove for a full-extension catch that ended up on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays that night.

Don’t worry, the Pup can flash the leather, too.

Adams reads ground-ball hops like he has been doing it since diapers—and he damn near has been.

His textbook footwork and solid arm make up for what scouts might consider underwhelming athleticism for a Big League prospect at shortstop.

At the beginning of February, Adams and Mak were loosening up in the Bubble with some long toss—well, not quite long toss because of the dimensions indoors, but close enough. With each throw, Mak wound up and fired a bullet that cracked upon impact into his partner’s glove. The noise was loud enough to attract bullpen catcher Billy O’Malley, who strolled over to Mak to witness his display of arm strength.

“That’s 100 [m.p.h],” Mak said to O’Malley.

“You think?” O’Malley asked. The catcher didn’t seem totally convinced. “That’s 100 miles per hour,” Mak repeated.

On his next throw, Mak took a giant crow hop and unleashed a laser across the field. He turned to O’Malley for his reaction.

“You know what, that is 100,” O’Malley conceded.

That confident mentality permeates throughout the Birdball clubhouse.

“This is why Mak is so good,” Gambino said. “Not only does he believe it’s 100, but he believes that’s 100 so much that now you believe it’s 100. He just knows he’s tougher than you, he knows he plays harder than you, and knows he can out-compete you.”

“I try to play bigger than I am and I always think I’m better than I am,” Mak said. “That’s what gives me the edge over guys who have more athletic ability than I do.”

Adams shares the same attitude. Both know they can go toe-to-toe with the best infielders in the country. But are they actually the best middle infield duo in the ACC? “These guys have to be in the conversation,” Gambino said. “And if you were going to talk about the all-time best combination at Boston College, you have to talk about those two.”

Adams and Mak also know that they’ll have to play like the all-time best combination if the Eagles are to repeat the deep postseason run of last season. The first few steps have already been completed. They’ve convinced themselves that they can do it. Their conviction has persuawded their teammates that they can do it. And in their last year together, Adams and Mak have convinced their coach of just how far they can take this team.

Now they just have to convince everyone else.

6 THE HEIGHTS | March 2, 2017

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW ZOE OCHOA

Seeing Yellow

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS | LUCIUS XUAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

Goalkeeper Zoe Ochoa has one goal: defend her territory at all costs.

Fortunately for the Eagles, she’s proven to be pretty good between the pipes.

Victoria Johnson | Heights Staff

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ellow is the only thing on Zoe Ochoa’s mind as she crouches in the lacrosse net. No, it is not her favorite color, and no, she is not singing Coldplay. In order to eliminate all the distractions on and around the field, she simply concentrates on the yellow hue of the ball. As players circulate the net, Ochoa is constantly searching for the flashes of yellow—like a high-stakes game of “Where’s Waldo?”

“When you get into a groove, you feel like you’re just in a bubble in your goal,” Ochoa said.

It is this disciplined focus that turns her bubble into a shield that denies almost every opposing shot that comes her way. A four-year starter between the pipes for Boston College lacrosse, Ochoa ranks fifth all-time with a total of 281 saves in her career. But she does not focus on her personal milestones. Her main goal is to win a national championship as a team—her goal individually is simply to stop every ball that comes her way.

Fittingly, this selflessness and drive to improve is what landed her a spot on the BC lacrosse team in the first place.

Growing up in Longmeadow, Mass., where lacrosse was the town’s most popular sport, it was practically guaranteed that Ochoa would end up with a stick in her hands. What she did not expect, though, was to end up in the net.

During her freshman and sophomore years in high school, Ochoa played defense for the Longmeadow High Lancers.

With lots of defenders in the sophomore class, it was going to be difficult for Ochoa to get on the field her junior year.

Toward the end of the season, Ochoa’s coach, Steve Dudeck, decided to take a risk. Dudeck’s team needed a goalie for the coming year and hoped Ochoa would be interested in getting more playing time.

Dudeck remembers taking Ochoa aside and asking her to switch positions.

With only a second of hesitation, Ochoa

agreed. “She was like, ‘Yeah...I’ll try goalie,’” Dudeck recalled. “It was kind of funny because usually kids are like, ‘No way!’”

With two weeks left in her sophomore season, Ochoa suited up and stepped into the net. Everything clicked. Dudeck was not surprised by her success,for he knew that Ochoa was already a great, well-rounded athlete. He believes Ochoa’s initial success can be attributed to the superb hand-eye coordination she developed during her experience with basketball, and that her hard work carried her from there.

I n o rd e r to i m prove, Ochoa worked endlessly over the summer and was rewarded with the starting goalie position her junior year. She continued to refine her skills and, by the end of the year, had a few colleges interested in her.

But because she only had limited experience, Ochoa made sure to attend training camps over the summer to increase her chances at landing a spot at her dream school— BC. While Ochoa was at the UMass camp, Eagles head coach Acacia Walker contacted Dudeck about their need for a goalie. Dudeck told her about Ochoa, and the cards just continued to line up—one of Walker’s assistant coaches was at the UMass camp. The assistant took a look at Ochoa, was impressed by her performance, and decided to put in a good word. Soon after, Walker contacted Dudeck in hopes of getting Ochoa to come up for the BC lacrosse camp in July.

“I remember Zoe’s mom calling me saying, ‘I don’t want her to have to go all the way to this camp and pay this money if they are not really interested,’” Dudeck

said. “So I had to convince Zoe’s mom that it was going to be worth it to go up there and give it a shot.” Mrs. Ochoa agreed and, soon enough, Ochoa packed her gear and headed to Chestnut Hill.

At the camp, Ochoa worked hard to secure her spot on the squad. She met with Walker and went out of her way to interact with current team members.

The experience paid off—Ochoa’s skills and personality won her a spot on her

successful in the ACC. “I owe a lot to the coaches because they really did take the time to kind of teach me the basics of being a goalie when I was a freshman in college,” Ochoa said. “It was really cool to have that support.”

When Ochoa was not working with the BC coaches, she would occasionally drive two hours back to Longmeadow just to get in a workout with her high school friend, Mollie Mackler, who was a goalie at Duke from 200912, and a volunteer assistant coach at BC from 2013-14.

Mackler and Ochoa paid a lot of attention to managing Ochoa’s physical and mental game. “ You need to do a great deal of work to p u t y o u r s el f i n t h e right place mentally to succeed,” Mackler said.

“A very minor tweak in technique can affect your whole game in a significant way, as well.”

These tweaks are what allow goalies to shine in the most competitive conference in Division-I lacrosse. Focusing on minor details can become tedious, but Ochoa more than welcomed the challenge. During workouts, Mackler realized Ochoa’s drive to improve was relentless, and far from selfish—Ochoa always had the team on her mind as motivation.

“Zoe brings fierce intensity and a strong desire to deliver for her team to the table,” Mackler said. “I knew she had the potential to be a great goalie … she had great instincts for stepping to and attacking the shot and was never short on hustle.”

This drive for improvement allowed Ochoa to go from a field player to a D-I lacrosse goalie in just two years. Given the abundance of talent in the ACC, this

“When you get into a groove, you feel like you’re just in a bubble in your goal.”

-Zoe Ochoa dream school’s squad. But there was a catch. Walker decided to take Ochoa as the team’s third goalie.

“Acacia told me, ‘You know, she’ll be a good back up,’” Dudeck said. “And Zoe, well she wasn’t happy because BC was her number one, but she was hoping that they would give her a shot.”

They did.

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fter working hard in the offseason to refine her goaltending expertise, Ochoa came to BC and immediately earned the starting postition. With only two seasons of experience, though, she still had a lot to learn from her coaches in order to be

is no small feat nor responsibilty—Ochoa plays an integral role, especially when games are close.

Her proudest save was during her sophomore season. The No. 3 Eagles were down in Chapel Hill with their undefeated record on the line against No. 2 University of North Carolina. The teams headed into overtime after a highly contested 60 minutes. With only seconds remaining on the clock, BC clung to a slim one-goal lead as UNC rushed toward the net in a last-ditch effort to tie the game.

Ochoa turned away the first shot, but committed a dangerous turnover on the clearance after making the initial save.

One of the Tar Heels saw an opportunity to knot the game, but Ochoa glimpsed the yellow and acrobatically lunged from behind the net, flopping toward the ball.

The yellow sphere ricocheted off of her pads away from the net, sealing the game for BC and leaving the Eagles as the only undefeated team in ACC play.

Two years later, Ochoa is now playing in her final season at BC. While she hopes her team can leave its legacy by winning a national championship, Ochoa also wants to pass down lessons from last year’s seniors. Ochoa is still close with the Class of 2016 and continues to admire the way those seniors led the team.

“Everyday I try to think to myself, ‘What would Molly [Erdle] do in this situation?’” Ochoa said of last year’s team captain. “I really admired how hard [the Class of 2016] worked and how much they supported all of us, and [I] want to keep that type of leadership in our class as well.”

Ochoa has possessed that supportive style of leadership ever since stepping foot on the Heights. Whether or not she is in the net, she is always the team’s biggest cheerleader.

Ochoa does not need a pregame ritual or lucky socks to play her best. By simply playing for her teammates and focusing on “the yellow,” Ochoa’s success in the net will guarantee a legacy that will last for decades.

JOHN QUACKENBOS / BC ATHLETICS

7 THE HEIGHTS | March 2, 2017

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW KATE WEEKS

Born to Score

Kate Weeks has been finding the back of the net ever since she stepped onto a lacrosse field.

But for her, goal-scoring isn’t a priority—getting BC over the hump in the ACC is.

Andy Backstrom | Asst. Sports Editor

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poised, an attribute that she simply credits to game experience. Instead of floundering under pressure, she reacts as she normally would—just like she did for years in her backyard.

“Even when we’re tied and have five seconds left, and you have to score, my heartrate is still the same,” Weeks said.

She’s not lying. On Saturday, BC entered halftime trailing Harvard, 6-3. For a large portion of the second half, the two sides traded scoring plays. With less than four minutes remaining, Dempsey Arsenault and Kaileen Hart tallied goals to bring BC within one.

T h e n , i t w a s We e k s ’ t i m e t o shine—27 seconds before the final whistle, she whipped a shot past Crimson goaltender Meredith Brown to force overtime. Hart would go on to cap off the comeback with a sudden-death goal. coring and skill-work aside, Weeks places a large emphasis on mental toughness.

Once again, she turns to her role model.

“Mentally, [Bryant] is the athlete that you want to be,” Weeks said.

The Black Mamba is renowned for silencing critics and overachieving throughout his 20-year career. He did so from the minute he was drafted out of high school to his final season. Toward the end of his playing days, an aging Bryant suffered two ACL tears. Many doubted that he would ever be able to score like his old self. In his send-off game, he proved everyone wrong one last time, scoring 60 points and willing his Los Angeles Lakers to a come-frombehind victory.

According to Weeks’ father, Jim, she has done an impeccable job of molding her mentality to that of Bryant.

“She knows what she wants to achieve in life, and she works hard to get it,” Jim said.

Often, that involves a great deal of preparation. Before e v e r y g a m e , We ek s leaves the locker room and finds a quiet, secluded place to sit.

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She then visualizes herself shooting certain shots that she might find herself taking in the coming hours.

This practice is especially effective for a player like Weeks—someone who is constantly fighting through crowds of defenders that flood the middle of the field just to get a look on the goal.

She rarely has time to think about how she will position herself for the ideal shot. Not to mention, the practice alleviates some of the pressure that comes with serving as BC’s primary source of production. In Weeks’ mind, she has to be on every game.

But when it comes to pressure, Weeks has a basic philosophy: either you can handle it or you can’t. Essentially, it’s survival of the fittest. It’s safe to say that she has not only dealt with expectations, but has also exceeded them. Walker attributes this to her fierce intensity and mentality.

Except that ferocity isn’t natural. In fact, off the field, Weeks considers herself to be gentle and forgiving. But when she suits up for competition, everything changes. With a flick of a switch, she’s a completely different person.

“Off the field, Kate is generally happy-go-lucky, smiling, fun—that type of person,” Jim said. “And when she gets onto the lacrosse field, it’s all business.”

Weeks affirms that while some see her play as mean or dirty, her aggressiveness is merely excited by her will to win.

“She’d play through a brick wall if it meant that her team would get a goal,” Sanborn said.

For Weeks, it’s not about adding to her statline, earning weekly awards, or even breaking program records. On Feb. 8, Weeks notched a school-best eight goals versus

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ate Weeks grabbed her stick, plugged in her headphones, and made her way to her backyard. She stared down her bounceback net, and began to do what she does best: shoot.

Weeks ripped one after another, working on technique, accuracy, and velocity. Soon, one hour became two, and two turned into three. After five hours, she had to stop—not due to boredom, but because she was devoured by darkness.

It was just another day.

She followed this routine until the start of her collegiate career. Haley Sanborn, her head coach at the Hun School, compared Weeks to a sponge. She would absorb every skill or technique that was sent her way.

“She’s a dream to coach,” Sanborn said. “You’d give her the skills, and she’d go out and practice them, and she’d pick them up like it was nothing.”

And no one was telling her to do so.

She was simply driven by a pure love— one that was innate.

“I always think that you’re born into being a defensive player or an offensive player,” Weeks said.

It’s pretty clear that Boston College’s current leading scorer received the offensive genes. To this point, Weeks has recorded 24 goals on the season, ranking her fourth in the ACC in goals scored per game (3.43 per game).

And it can all be traced back to the number that she bears on her chest.

Weeks has worn the No. 24 her entire life. While some select a number for continuity, aesthetics, or luck , the Princeton, N.J. native’s choice was inspired by “one of the best athletes we’ll ever see”: Kobe Bryant.

Like the five-time NBA champion, Weeks is a finisher. In one sense of the word, she caps off most of the Eagles’ scoring plays. As far as head coach Acacia Walker is concerned, that in itself is valuable.

“Oh, it’s huge,” Walker said. “I mean every single position is unique, and it’s all part of the puzzle, but Kate’s position is a tough one—she’s gotta put the finishing touches on the play.”

In another sense, she comes through when it matters most. When the clock starts to wind down, Weeks remains

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then-No. 15 Massachusetts, en route to an 18-10 upset victory. Following the game, friends and family congratulated her on her achievement—one of which she was unaware.

“People were texting me after, and I just thought they meant ‘good game,’” Weeks said. “I didn’t really know what they were saying.”

As soon as Weeks found the back of the net for the eighth time, her focus shifted to closing out a UMass group that is one-year removed from a run to the Elite Eight. She didn’t know, nor did she care, that she had broken a BC record. At that moment, all she wanted was to help her team win. es, Weeks is a scorer. But she really identifies as a team player.

“Even though she’s a shooter, and her job is to score, she’s not consumed with that,” Jim said. “The overriding objective is she wants to win. She doesn’t care if she scores or not.”

Back in high school, her team didn’t have the depth of a college team, let alone one in the ACC. Naturally, there were holes to fill across the field, and Weeks was quick to volunteer to patch them. If Sanborn needed Weeks on defense, she’d play defense. And if Sanborn needed Weeks to slide back to midfield, she’d do that too.

Weeks believes that the team’s success is dependant on the performance of the unit as a whole. Without the aid of her teammates, Weeks cannot excel on the attack. At the same time, if she fails to create scoring plays, her supporting cast will have a much harder time doing their own jobs. Each player relies on the other for her own personal achievements.

So when it comes to Weeks’ goal scoring, she only credits her fellow Eagles.

“There’s not a second that goes by th at I d o n’t think that my team-

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mates are the reason why I have success,” Weeks said.

Her teammates have to thank her as well. Because Weeks draws so many defenders in the middle of the field, other attackers are left in open space on the perimeter. As a result, her teammates have capitalized. One in particular, sophomore Sam Apuzzo, has scored 20 goals this year, 14 of which have been recorded in the past four games.

Effectively, Weeks’ play has heavily contributed to the production of a multi-faceted Eagles attack—one that is ranked 27th in the nation.

BC has won five of its first seven games, but Weeks isn’t satisfied. Both of the games that the Eagles have dropped have come in conference play—an area of concern as of late. Last year, Walker’s crew had a 2-5 record in the ACC, the country’s toughest conference for women’s lacrosse.

The poor regular-season play seeded BC to play a Final Four-bound Syracuse team in the first round of the ACC Tournament. After 60 minutes, the Eagles’ chances at a conference championship were gone, and hopes for an NCAA Tournament appearance all but vanished.

This time around, Weeks is looking to rewrite the script. And there is more than enough time. In the coming months, BC will play North Carolina, Virginia, and Duke, among other ACC foes. Just two years ago, Weeks was part of an Eagles team that traveled to Chapel Hill and edged UNC in overtime. She still reminisces on that victory today. Time will tell if she can recreate a similar memory this season.

In May, Weeks’ tenure as a B C athlete will come to an end. She won’t be defined by the number of goals she scores. Instead, she will be remembered for her integrity, work ethic, and giving nature.

Weeks sees scoring as a microcosm of the entire unit’s work. From her perspective, she is just doing her job, the same way the rest of her teammates are.

Sanborn believes that Weeks’ genuine concern for others and passion for the game of lacrosse set her up perfectly for a future coaching job.

As always, Weeks will have to decide if it’s a shot worth taking.

Senior (projected)

Junior 38%

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(43)

DREW HOO / HEIGHTS SENIOR STAFF | LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS EDITOR

8 THE HEIGHTS | March 2, 2017

TATIANA CORTEZ SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW

One Last Hoorah Tatiana Cortez has been the heart of BC softball for the last three years. Now, she looks to make every moment of her senior year count.

Annabel Steele | Assoc. Sports Editor PHOTO COURTESY OF BC ATHLETICS

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atiana Cortez’s first college softball tournament wasn’t going how she had hoped.

It was Feb. 2014, and Boston College had traveled to Lafayette, La. for the Ragin’ Cajuns Invitational. Through the first five games, Cortez hadn’t had a single hit. For somebody who’d long been comfortable at the plate, it was a frustrating beginning to her BC career.

Then Michigan happened.

The Eagles played the then-No. 4 Wolverines in the final game of the tournament.

Michigan pitcher Haylie Wagner—a future professional softball player—kept the Eagles scoreless in the first inning. Then, in the second, with Jordan Weed on first base, Cortez stepped to the plate.

Wagner surveyed her at the plate, then started her motions. She fired an inside pitch toward the plate. A fatal mistake—Cortez loves inside pitches. She swung and heard the crack of ball against bat—the sweet sound that tells batters and fans alike that this one is outta here. The ball soared all the way out to center field, a two-run homer to open up the box score. Cortez’s first hit of the tournament—her first career hit—was her first career home run.

Four years later, Cortez identified that moment as her favorite individual accomplishment as a BC softball player. “It was crazy,” she said through a wide smile. “I was just so happy.”

Cortez’s softball career began long before that magic moment. At age 5, the seeds of softball love were sewn in the halls of her Houston, Texas elementary school. Every day, Cortez walked past a sign advertising tryouts for the Westbury Softball League. Her friends all joined teams, so Cortez decided to start playing, too.

BC fans who know Cortez as a catcher and third baseman would be surprised to see the list of positions she’s played over the course of her career. Cortez moved around the diamond a lot, beginning as a pitcher before trying out middle infield. Eventually, she settled in the outfield. When she started to lose her speed advantage, it was time for her coaches to move her again. This time, it was to a position where she excelled, and a position she still plays today: catcher.

Her coaches needed someone with a strong arm to take on one of the most demanding positions in the field, so they turned to Cortez. She alternated between third base

and catcher, excelling at both positions. As she settled into her new defensive identity, Cortez continued to work on her swing.

Today, Cortez is known as a formidable hitter. In the early stages of her softball career, however, she wasn’t quite as skilled in the batter’s box. Determined to improve her swing, she spent hours studying swings online and practicing at batting cages, tweaking little things until she saw improvement. Cortez never had a permanent one-on-one hitting coach—she went every so often to various coaches, but the main catalyst for her improvement was her mother, Sheri.

Though she never played softball herself, Sheri quickly grew to love the sport because of her daughter. She became knowledgeable about softball and offered advice whenever Cortez needed it, serving as a source of support throughout Cortez’s career. Today, Cortez estimates that her mother attends about 95 percent of BC’s home games—despite living halfway across the country.

Cortez’s hard work paid off, and as she began to improve on both sides of the diamond, she got a taste of real success with her club team, Impact Gold. When she was 14 years old, Cortez and her Impact Gold teammates traveled to Panama City, Fla. for the U.S. Fastpitch Association Softball World Series, eventually placing fourth in the competition.

In addition to her work with Impact Gold, Cortez played varsity softball for Westside High School for four years. During that time, she gathered a number of accolades and made a name for herself in the Houston area. In addition to being the league’s Freshman of the Year, Cortez was a two-time member of the All-District First Team and, in her senior year, was the area’s MVP. During her junior and senior seasons, she even made the Texas Sportswriters All-State team. ith her talent, résumé, and work ethic, it may seem like it was always a given that Cortez would realize her longtime dream and play Division I college softball. But the people who should have supported and uplifted Cortez— her coaches—thought she couldn’t make it.

“I’ve always wanted to play college ball, and I always had coaches telling me I would never be able to do it,” Cortez said.

Rather than let the skeptics pull her down, Cortez worked even harder to achieve what

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she knew was possible for her. Sure enough, despite her coaches’ lack of faith, schools soon came knocking. She received scholarship opportunities from several Power Five teams, including Arkansas and Pitt.

BC head coach Ashley Obrest was shocked when she discovered Cortez for the first time.

She couldn’t believe that Cortez’s coaches doubted her talent and that she hadn’t already committed someplace by the time BC came calling.

“I said to myself, ‘How is she still available?’” Obrest said. “You don’t have to watch her that many times to know she’s got that ‘it’ factor, and that’s what we look for.”

Intrigued by Cortez’s defensive potential and impressed with her offensive prowess, Obrest contacted Cortez. A week later, despite nursing a finger injury, Cortez was at summer camp, eager to show her interest in the program. Between the beautiful campus, improving roster, and great education, Cortez didn’t have a hard time settling on BC. Cortez played a huge part on the team from the beginning of her freshman year. She started 52 games her freshman year, hitting .239. But she showed her power threat, with 49 RBIs—the most on the team—to go along with 11 homers. Cortez also committed just three errors over the course of the entire season, proving that she could contribute with the glove, too.

Over the next two years, Cortez continued to be one of the Eagles’ most dangerous threats on both sides of the ball. During her sophomore campaign, other teams opted to walk her rather than give her the opportunity to hit—she led the team in free passes, with 33.

Despite those pitchers’ attempts to neutralize her offensive threat, Cortez still knocked in 39 RBI and 10 home runs that year. Once again, she committed just three errors over the entire season. In her junior season, she solidified her position as one of the conference’s best players, earning First Team All-ACC honors. Cortez hit .380, including 13 homers. She set BC’s single-season slugging percentage record at .768 and committed just

one error all year. imply put, Cortez has been the heart of the team for the past two years.

“She plays the game the right way, she plays it hard,” Obrest said. “She always walks away with her uniform dirty, so she’s diving for balls.

When she’s in the box she goes hard at pitches.”

Her teammate Taylor Coroneos agrees.

Coroneos knows Cortez best out of anyone on the team—the two have roomed together every year. Coming into freshman year, they both knew they wanted to room with an athlete, so they chose to live together despite not knowing one another. Over their four years, Coroneos says she has seen Cortez’s confidence grow—and the team’s confidence in Cortez grow, too.

Elected team captain as a junior, Cortez has tried to lead by example over the course of her career, emulating the seniors who took her under their wing when she was a freshman.

Obrest believes that the younger players look up to Cortez, hoping to follow her lead during their tenure at BC. As catcher, Cortez is a lot like a quarterback—serving as leader on the field, calling the shots, and demanding that everyone else on the team perform their duty.

When Obrest sees Cortez on the field, she is reminded of one NFL star in particular—the Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton.

“He is super athletic back there, and willing to take hits, and that’s what she’s willing to do,” Obrest said. “They have a little bit of the same personality, too—they’re both a

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little flashy, in a good way.”

Flashy works when you have the talent to back it up on the field, and Cortez certainly does. She’s aware that she may break several BC records this season, but isn’t focused on that. Instead, she’s taking every at-bat, every play as they come, focusing on doing her job and doing it well.

The Eagles opened their 2017 campaign at the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational. Cortez was overjoyed at the prospect of beginning her senior season in her hometown—she almost cried tears of joy last year when Obrest told her that they’d participate in the tournament in Houston. Bolstered by the crowd of friends, family, and fans who showed up to cheer her on, Cortez made a splash at the invitational. In one game against the University of Houston, Cortez went 3-for-3, hitting two home runs.

She added another homer against UC Santa Barbara, bringing her total to three for the weekend.

As the season progresses, Cortez’s coaches and teammates expect her to put up the same strong numbers and continue to provide leadership for the team. Cortez is more than happy to oblige, but knows that this will be a bittersweet year. After all, everything she does will be one step closer to the end of her college career.

“This is my last hoorah,” she said. “I’m trying to do the best I can in everything right now.”

CHASING RECORDS Career Home Runs 150

50

40

Career RBI

41

142

131

37 100

30

20 50 10

0

Tory Speer Record-Holder

Tatiana Cortez

0

Tory Speer Record-Holder

Tatiana Cortez