Staff Writer
HOULTON – Murray Putnam has weathered many a storm, including surprise spring snow showers. And this year’s usual significant white blanket covering the ground isn’t fazing the 40-year veteran baseball coach.
“This year certainly could be the exception, but I haven’t seen a season vary over three or four days no matter what kind of winter,” he said. “Could this be different? Yes, it could.”
Putnam’s pitchers and catchers began tuning up for the season on March 24, with the rest of the players added to the workout last week. They have started to work on the mechanics of pitching, fielding and hitting – all on the gymnasium’s hardwood.
“We started with our potential pitchers and catchers,” he explained. “If some of our returning pitchers come through and we develop some other arms to go with them, we may be able to go four or five deep. Because of this type of weather, we may be playing in rapid-fire fashion. There is no substitute for pitching, and this could be one of those years when we have to go deep.”
The Warriors play a 15-game schedule and time will definitely tell how the season will play out.
“Do things have to happen soon, of course they do, but a couple days of a warm rain and heavy fog will cut the snow quickly,” Putnam said. “However, we will play the hand we are dealt. I’m not going to panic.”
Even though there is a good size pile of snow on their diamond in Dyer Brook, the Warriors will be leaving it behind to hit the field during April vacation in Boston. Putnam continues his tradition of an annual spring trip to Massachusetts – 32nd time in a row during his tenure — to better prepare his squad for the upcoming season, and that trip has paid many a dividend in the way of 10 Eastern Maine championships and five state crowns.
“We try to obviously log some time on the field,” he said. “We practice things outdoors that as a rule, we certainly can’t do here during that period of time.”
The Warriors are drilled on game situations – hitting, fielding and base running.
“We also get a chance to further develop arms on the outside,” Putnam added. “The trip benefits our program.”
Year in and year out, Putnam’s squads are very competitive for a small school, which has seen a decline in enrollment over the years.
“This year I had 20 indicate on paper they wanted to play,” he said.
But with a delayed winter season, Putnam said there is no magic wand to wave to make it all go away.
“I’ve seen numerous years before when even with so called “normal” weather we ran into some snow after we came back from our spring trip,” he said. “I’ve seen a couple of different times when we didn’t get to play until the end of the first full week when we got back, which meant we were already four games behind. Somehow, we always made it up.”
But, working on those games doesn’t come without a bit of stress.
“It doesn’t happen without pulling your hair,” Putnam said with a laugh.
If the schedule is backed up, accommodations have to be made.
“Players still have a normal school routine, first and foremost,” said Putnam. “At times, we’ve played our home games at another site on our way to another scheduled game to meet our obligations. It’s a matter of clientele and adapting to adversity.”
The reality is, baseball and tennis have just over a month to be completed unlike basketball and soccer seasons, which have up to two-and-a-half months to fulfill their schedules.
“We just keep plugging away,” Putnam said.
