The Parkland baseball program never seems to be in a rebuilding mode. Instead, it has a steady pipeline of young talent that annually develops into a team of good players.

Trojans head coach Kurt Weber and his team took the news that the PIAA had canceled the season very hard. Weber also knows that in addition to the players and coaches, fans and umpires were also hit hard by the decision, as necessary as it was. Weber enjoys watching the natural progression of players who take on larger and larger roles each season as part of the successful program.

“It’s unfortunate, because the hard part - offseason workouts, intramurals, tryouts - were over for the players and it was getting to the reward portion for them and that was taken away,” said Weber.

The 2020 version of the Trojans would have been loaded with 14 first-year varsity players, including eight freshmen and sophomores, who would have benefited from the experience and leadership of highly valued seniors.

“A big concern of mine regarding our program is that we really rely on the older players showing the way for the younger players,” said Weber. “We always talk about the standard being their responsibility. If everything had gone according to plan those 14 would leave this year knowing what it takes and means to be a Trojan.

“I was really happy with the way the group got along and was going about their business. Had things continued, I think we would have been in great shape the next few years. The good news is that everyone is in the same situation.”

Some of the lost experience may have been made up in the American Legion season that immediately follows the high school season. Unfortunately, the American Legion season was also canceled., so there won’t be any opportunities for players to get on the field in a coordinated way this summer.

“For pitchers like Nikhil Patel and Josh Miiller,” said Weber, “this season was an opportunity to lead a staff and pitch the big games and Drew Sorrentino has the arm to be dominant on the mound. He reminds many of the coaches of Cody Weiss, who figured everything out his senior year and got drafted out of high school. Drew has that same potential.

“It was going to be a big season for players like Parker Swartz and Chris Lessel, who have waited their turn for an opportunity at starting roles, and Jared Kucharczuk was going to finish off a great career at Parkland as a two-sport star. Luke Dauberman took a year off to concentrate on football, but he was back bigger and stronger and we were so excited about that. Even a player like Jeremy Piatkiewicz, who has started the last two years, was going to have an increased role. This was his team to lead and we were going to give him more freedom to run things defensively than I’ve ever allowed. I was really excited to watch him take the next step in his development.”

Even with the season canceled and the development of young players put on hold, Weber was able to find at least a couple of bright spots in the doom and gloom.

“If I can think of any bright spot,” he said, “I hope that when teams do eventually return to their fields, in all sports, that everyone refocuses on what high school sports and youth sports should be about: the opportunity for talented athletes to compete on the field with the support of their community, representing their school and making a lifetime of hopefully positive memories as a group..

“On the lighter side, another positive is that I usually spend the off-season rehashing all my game day decisions that didn’t go so well, but this year I didn’t make one bad decision all year. You can look at an 0-0 record many ways. I’m looking at it as undefeated. We have a long way to go with this virus. I just hope for all our kids that the worst memory they have regarding this virus is a loss of a sports season and that the virus doesn’t impact their families and friends. That’s what I think about now.”