Published: May 19, 2008 12:05 pm            

Roos looking to fill vacancies

A year ago, Weatherford Kangaroos head coach Terry Massey and his players were eliminated from postseason contention with a regular season finale loss to the Granbury Pirates at Raymond E. Curtis Field.

This season, the Roos not only made their way into the playoffs, they went two rounds deep, knocking out the Odessa Bronchos in the bi-district round, before being eliminated by the Amarillo Sandies in Midland a week ago.

“The kids really did well and the difference between last year’s team and this year, I believe, is our pitching and defense was better,” Massey said. “Last year, when I came in, we didn’t have any varsity experience on the mound and this year, we did. I think that made a huge difference as well as our defensive play.

“Plus, my style, I bunt a little bit and I think you saw that come into play this year. We were really able to execute the bunt better than what we were able to do last year.”

Massey, in only his second season at the helm of the Weatherford baseball program, kept the Roos near the top of the district standings throughout the season ultimately finishing third with a District 4-5A record of 11-5. Only Paschal and Mansfield Summit finished better than the Roos in district and each had a district record of 12-4.

Weatherford benefited from strong pitching from Taylor Massey and Colton Rhodes which are just two of nine voids that will have to be filled in the offseason due to graduation.

“We’ve got a couple of kids coming back that I think can help us on the mound,” Coach Massey said. “If Josh Easley can develop a second pitch, really develop it to where it’s a good pitch, he’s going to be one of the best in the area next year, if he does that.

“Then, I’ve got a couple of other kids. If Jordan Ellington comes on and picks it up. We’ll just have to wait and see who steps it up because we are losing a bunch of seniors this year.”

The loss of starting seniors like Massey, Rhodes, Colton Davis, Kevin Manning and Colton Matlock is a tough blow for the Roos, but Coach Massey said he believes he has some guys who can take over the positions.

“I think so, but you know until the lights are on, you just never know how they’re going to react,” Coach Massey said. “JV ball is a lot different than varsity baseball. We’re going to have a lot of competition next year for jobs really at almost every position.

“We’re going to have to have some people step up on the mound. We had 22 wins this year and half of them are gone with Taylor and then you have another three or four wins with Colton Rhodes on the mound. You’re really going to lose basically 85 percent of your wins on the mound.

“Like I said, Easley and some other people are going to have to pick it up.”

Coaches are not often surprised by the accomplishments of their team or their players because they have such high expectations for them, but Coach Massey admitted there were a few players during the 2008 season who really impressed him.

“Kevin Manning was a big surprise,” he said. “He actually made one error all season long at first base and he made it in the Amarillo series. That was his one and only error the whole year and he saved a bunch of other errors for us this year with picking the ball over at first. That was a huge surprise.

“Colton Matlock really stepped up his play. Taylor picked it up. Taylor, I knew would hit, but I didn’t think he’d win 11 ballgames on the mound.

“Kevin Manning would be one of the bigger ones because like I said, he really did a tremendous job over there at first base.”

Coach Massey said there are many things the returning players can learn from the departing Roos, but the main one he hopes they carry on into the 2009 season is the attitude.

“Hopefully, they’ll take the attitude of these seniors because these seniors really were some great competitors,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll take that into this offseason and into the summer and get in the weight room and those things and really push themselves to try to do better than this group.”

Weatherford finished the season with a record of 22-12 overall.

        

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