By John Orrell
\nLandmark correspondent<\/p>\n
RUTLAND \u2013 Whether it be as a member of the wait staff at his family\u2019s Ladd\u2019s Restaurant or as a member of the Wachusett Regional High varsity baseball team, 2023 graduate Alex Toomey knows his way around disciplined situations.<\/p>\n
The right-handed hurler from Rutland was a key contributor to the 2023 Mountaineer squad that finished the campaign at 11-9 and advanced to the MIAA Division 1 state tournament. As a starter for head coach Jeff Kodys, Toomey knew that a sizeable weight would fall upon his shoulders, but similarly was aware that he had the talent and temperament to get the job done.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started when I was young, and I just stuck with it,\u201d said Toomey of his introduction to pitching. \u201cI feel like it makes me who I am. It sets me apart from everyone else. Baseball is my own thing. I never lose the fun I have playing the game with all the guys. I just love everything about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never really saw myself as a pitcher growing up, but then high school came, and I started to pitch then. I stuck with it and I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toomey was selected to be a team captain for the recently concluded season, an honor that gave him a source of pride. He and teammates produced sound team chemistry and unity whether on or off the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always remind them (teammates) that we\u2019re a team and we\u2019re all working together,\u201d Toomey said. \u201cI always tried to pick them up. People get upset, but that\u2019s baseball. I try to keep everyone in the dugout positive and keep working as one whole unit, and not people doing one thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost all of pitching is mental. When you\u2019re overthinking, you\u2019re just beating yourself out there, and you just have to play the game. Physical mistakes happen, but you can\u2019t be too rough on yourself. Just the mental warfare when you\u2019re pitching is so much of the battle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of seniors on the team that have been playing so long, and that was a bond that we all had together. We showed the younger kids what it took. You have to do your job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m definitely amped up (when taking the field), and I\u2019m always nervous, but everyone is. No one can\u2019t be nervous. I try to contain it and use it toward the game and not let it get the best of me. I keep it all within myself. When I\u2019m out there pitching, all I\u2019m thinking about is me and my catcher and what\u2019s going on in the game, and I just block everyone out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toomey concluded the season with an ERA of 3.06, striking out 35 in 39 innings. His repertoire of pitches includes a 2-seam fastball, a 4-seam fastball, curveball and change-up. His season was praiseworthy, but a humble Toomey wishes the ERA had ended just a tad lower.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had high expectations for myself,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cMy junior year I finished with a 1.70 ERA, so I was looking to better that, but we played some great teams this year. I feel like we had more competitive games. I was happy with my season-ending stats.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlex could probably play in the field and he could probably hit a lot, but he\u2019s a good pitcher,\u201d said Kodys. \u201cHis teammates love him. He\u2019s a good kid, and he\u2019s been a great captain for us. We\u2019re going to miss him next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toomey will be off to attend and compete for the AMCATS of Anna Maria College and major in fire science in the fall. He played varsity football through high school except for his senior year, where he finished on the gridiron to focus exclusively on baseball, a decision he has never looked back on. Having the opportunity to wear the green and white as a Mountaineer will result in positive memories all through life.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up, it was always the dream to play for the Wachusett team,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone looked up to those Wachusett kids, so for me to finally put on the jersey, especially being named a captain in that jersey, meant a lot, and it carried a lot with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By John Orrell Landmark correspondent RUTLAND \u2013 Whether it be as a member of the wait staff at his family\u2019s Ladd\u2019s Restaurant or as a member of the Wachusett Regional High varsity baseball team, 2023 graduate Alex Toomey knows his way around disciplined situations. The right-handed hurler from Rutland was a key contributor to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}