NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Medicine Hat Mavericks head coach Tom Vessella chats with an assistant coach during a Western Canadian Baseball League game at Athletic Park on Aug. 1.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
Tom Vessella couldn’t help but get romantic when reflecting on his summer of baseball in the Gas City.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks head coach was forced to close the book on his first season with the Western Canadian Baseball League club following Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Lethbridge Bulls at Spitz Stadium. But even after the heartbreaking defeat, Vessella spoke of love over loss.
“It’s hard not to fall in love with this city, this league and the Mavericks as a whole. It’s the whole package,” said Vessella, whose Mavericks dropped the best-of-three Western Division semifinal series 2-1. “How can you not – after you have an experience like this – want to have that happen all the time. I’m still coming down from the fact that I have to go back to the real world … It’s been wonderful. I’m just sad it has to end.”
While Vessella says he hasn’t spoken to Mavericks owner and general manager Greg Morrison about the potential of returning to the club, he spoke glowingly about the way Morrison operates his organization.
“He is the Medicine Hat Mavericks. It’s one of those things where I hope everyone understands how amazing that organization is for the city and the community as a whole – and we could feel that in the support,” said Vessella. “It’s been a fantastic experience, particularly the community, the city, the Mavericks as a whole. Greg does a fantastic job and the Mavericks aren’t what they are without him. This is a class-act organization and a wonderful town.”
Vessella managed to guide the Mavericks out of an early slump and into one of the most riveting playoff races in recent memory in his first summer with the club. The Burbank, Calif. product says none of it would have been possible without key seniors like PJ Garcia, Colton Wright and Austin Sojka keeping a positive atmosphere in the dugout and always leading by example on the diamond.
“We had some of the smartest baseball players that I’ve come across in a very long time. When you have people like that it makes my job a lot easier because you can lean on them for their leadership and their skills,” said Vessella. “I want to thank them – I’d like to thank our entire roster from top to bottom, but definitely those guys who were leaders in the clubhouse. They were leaders off the field, they were leaders on the field. We don’t turn this team around unless we have them on our roster.”
Vessella added assistant coaches Fehlandt Lentini and Jared Libke were also vital in helping the players find their momentum both on the mound and in the box.
“Jared Libke did a fantastic job this year with our pitching staff and Fehlandt Lentini has been amazing with what he’s done with our hitters,” he said. “We were 9-16 in our first 25 games. Halfway through the season pretty much everyone wrote us off and we scratched and clawed and got our way back to almost getting second place and making it to the playoffs, then being in a position to play for a divisional championship. We were one game, one pitch, one out – we were that close, it just didn’t fall our way.”
