Norristown heading in right direction
WEST NORRITON >> There is plenty of reason for optimism around the Norristown Area High School baseball team.
The Eagles are 2-2 in Suburban One League American Conference play and in the thick of the race for the league title. They have young players in key positions and have been hitting well with runners on base.
The main reason, however, to be excited in the team’s final season in the SOL before moving to the Pioneer Athletic Conference is because of the culture change.
Third-year head coach Rich Campbell is working on creating a different mentality that leaves the lazy, me-first attitude in the past.
“Now it’s becoming more about the team and about doing well,” Campbell said. “It’s about playoffs and winning and not necessarily about ‘me’ and highlights. It’s not hey look I hit a home run. It’s hey we won, and I hit a home run.
“The kids are accountable now. When you tell them there was a mistake, they don’t get defensive and start shouting, trying to defend what they did. They’re like, ‘you’re right coach. I should have done that.’”
Campbell said the turnaround has been happening for a little while now. The Eagles finished fourth in the SOL American in 2015 and had seniors named to all-league teams after struggling as juniors.
The coaches, who all work in the school and are easily accessible to the players, hosted voluntary workouts on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings in the winter and had great turnouts.
“We’re really excited about where the program is going,” Campbell added. “These kids, they all just want to work. They just want to get better and do their best.”
Athletic Director Tony Palladino was also credited for helping the program improve by providing any equipment needed and making sure the field is in top shape.
The evidence is even showing in the standings. Norristown’s two league losses are to perennial powers Upper Dublin and Wissahickon. In each game, the Eagles had just one bad inning that proved to be the difference.
“We are really excited about where we are,” Campbell, who was an assistant at Norristown for six years before getting the top position, said. “We’re 2-2 in league. we played Upper Dublin in what we thought we should have won and we gave away. The only game we really have played poorly in was the game (against Wissahickon).”
As for the future, the top two pitchers in the rotation will be back next year. Junior Nick Edling has become the staff’s ace in his first year on varsity and freshman Dominic Proietto is 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA.
“For the most part, the big story for us has been pitching,” Campbell said. “Our strikes-to-balls ratio is fantastic, we’re throwing two strikes for every ball. We’re keeping our walks down to a max of two a game. We’re not giving away base runners — that in years past had killed us.”
Junior Tyler Pastella is another player who contributes more to the team than what meets the eye.
“Tyler is kind of like our table setter,” Campbell said. “More than that, he really sets a team mood. He’s just a baseball rat. He is constantly thinking the game, constantly talking the game.”
The leading hitter on the team is senior Tom Detwiler. He is batting over .500 this season and is hitting a perfect 1.000 with runners in scoring position. He leads the team (tied with senior Terell Dale) with seven RBI through the first seven games.
“That’s always been Tom’s M.O.,” Campbell said. “If he doesn’t have runners on, he doesn’t bear down as much as he does when he does because he loves the RBI. Last year he had the highest batting average with runners in scoring position, he led our team in RBI.”
In the upcoming week, Norristown has three league games that could direct where this season is going.
“We’re looking forward to this year and we’re hoping that we’re going to be a district playoff team,” Campbell said. “Then we’ll go from there.”
