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GDLL Marlins prep for post-season
When the regular season hasn't even ended yet and your entire team is headed to all-stars, one of two things has happened:1. Your team has such amazing players with such a level of commitment that there's no need to even poll the other teams.
2. Your entire division has one team.
For the senior ball players of the Gainesville District Little League, it's the second choice.
"We do have some good talent and we're optimistic," said Marty Chavers, manager of the lone senior team, the Marlins.
Chavers' team may seem like a shell of what it was last year when it had eight players with high school experience. This year, they have three players with junior varsity or varsity experience (only two of whom played this past season).
But the team has strung together a surprisingly strong 4-3-1 record with a lot less of a player pool to choose from. The Marlins are batting .451 as a team with five players -- Derek Brown, Dave Donaldson, Garrett Fox, and Johnny Kraft and Zach Martin -- each hitting .500 or better.
When Battlefield High School baseball manager Matt Caudle laid down the decree that he wanted his players to concentrate on Battlefield baseball instead of Little League this year, some of the best teenage talent Haymarket has to offer simply opted out of playing for GDLL.
That meant the league lost a lot of players, including some of the guys who helped project Gainesville into the playoffs last year.
But not all was lost. Three-year players Danny Drzal, Tyler Chavers and Brendan Pastor returned this year and have assumed leadership roles on the team.
"Varsity baseball, if you do something wrong ... they get on you," said Drzal of the difference between playing for a high school team and playing league ball.
Playing for Gainesville is "more laid back, more relaxed, more fun," he added.
"Here, a mistake is acceptable. We're going to make an error. Part of the game is making errors. And the thing after you make an error is, you've got to maintain your momentum and get back into the game," said the coach.
He added that the team is concentrating on developing players in different positions, mentioning that Drzal will work with players in the infield while Tyler Chavers helps out those in the outfield.
Then there are players like Martin, who on Saturday played left-field, shortstop and catcher as the elder Chavers figured out different places to put members of his 15-player squad throughout the day.
As the Lower Loudoun Cardinals found out, rotating lineups or not, the Marlins can hold their own. The Marlins built on the momentum established by an 11-6 victory in the first game to come out firing on all cylinders in the rubber match, winning the second game 15-1 in a game called after 4.5 innings.
Drzal no-hit the Cardinals through four innings and reliever Jeremy Cheney gave up one run on two hits in his inning of work to close out the match.
"I think Drzal was probably one of the top pitchers we've seen this year," said Cardinals manager Dave Laub. "Actually, he was and we've seen some varsity pitchers from Dominion [High School] and he was probably the top pitcher we've seen this year."
According to Laub, the Marlins featured "solid hitters; every one of their kids hit."
Playoffs begin Sunday, July 5 for the GDLL seniors. They can expect tougher competition than they faced Saturday as Lower Loudoun alone has enough players to field four teams, meaning their all-star team should, in theory, have four times as many players to draw from than Gainesville.
Three of those Lower Loudoun all-stars will be coming from the Cardinals: Hayden Earley, Dan Laub and Nick DeMott.
But the Marlins are winding down the regular season relaxed and on a winning streak with proven talent throughout the line-up.
"It's going to be harder in all-stars but for now, it's pretty much equal balance just with the teams we've been going against," said Tyler Chavers.
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