{"id":44825,"date":"2023-07-10T16:26:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=44825"},"modified":"2023-07-10T16:26:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-10T20:26:21","slug":"pratt-led-wrhs-baseball-in-all-facets-of-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2023\/07\/10\/pratt-led-wrhs-baseball-in-all-facets-of-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Pratt led WRHS baseball in all facets of the game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By John Orrell<br \/><em>Landmark correspondent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RUTLAND \u2014 High school student-athletes, just as professionals, have their circle of fandom \u2014 those true-blue supporters who admire and respect how players conduct themselves both on and off their respective playing surfaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Wachusett Regional High Class of 2023\u2019s Noah Pratt, arguably one of his most staunch supporters is none other than Mountaineer varsity baseball head coach Jeff Kodys, who is quick to sing the praises of his team\u2019s co-captain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI said that I\u2019d take nine Noahs and we\u2019d have a winning team,\u201d said Kodys. \u201cTalent-wise, he can play any position. He had a great year pitching. He can play shortstop, catch and \u2026 do just about anything. He has speed from playing soccer, and he\u2019s a leader on and off the field. He\u2019ll be tough to replace next season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a nice bond with coach Kodys. I\u2019ve trusted him as a coach, and he\u2019s probably the best coach I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Pratt in returning his coach\u2019s complimentary remarks. \u201cHe keeps the game fun and light, but when it comes down to the games, he\u2019s very serious and gets locked in. It\u2019s nice what he said about me, and I really appreciate that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBaseball\u2019s my number one sport. My dad and I bonded over it. I started out playing T-ball, and my dad was my coach throughout. He was my coach in AA, AAA and part of AAU. It was the kind of thing we could bond over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI like shortstop over any other position, but I also feel that with centerfield, I could also do well. My dad and I would always work on pitching and pitching mechanics. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve always done, and it kind of comes easy after doing it so long. I enjoy pitching. I\u2019m pitching for East Side (American Legion) right now. The game against Hudson I only let in one run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDay after day, I just want to get better. I\u2019m so passionate about it that I want to master the entire sport. I also play for the Northeast Eagles out of Clinton. I\u2019m there a lot, and I want to be better than exceptional and I want to have that edge over everybody. That way the game is more fun because the more work I put in, the more fun the game is if I\u2019m performing better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This season Pratt was given the honor to be a team captain, and he was quick to embrace his new responsibilities. That he and fellow captains Alex Toomey and Jack Hansen were already close made the trio\u2019s job simpler than had they not bonded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe pretty much tried to keep it a light environment,\u201d Pratt explained. \u201cObviously, when it came down to serious situations, we had to get people cheering and back in the game. Alex (Toomey), Jack (Hansen) and me go back to sophomore year, so it\u2019s easy to lead the team. We just matched up well, and it made the captain responsibilities easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Asked how he approaches a game, be it as shortstop, pitcher or even as a centerfielder where he has made some astonishing putouts, he admits that pre-game butterflies can be overwhelming at first but not hard to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a little nervous every time I go out there, but once I settle in, I\u2019m relaxed. But I\u2019m always pumped up when I get out there,\u201d said Pratt. \u201cIt\u2019s so windy at our field that I can\u2019t hear much anyway. The people I do hear when it\u2019s windy, I try to block them out. I focus on the pitcher and try to stay locked in, but I don\u2019t really focus on the crowd that much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPitching is mostly mental. If you\u2019re up there and you keep telling yourself \u2018don\u2019t throw a ball, don\u2019t throw a ball\u2019, you\u2019re going to throw a ball and you\u2019re going to do bad. It\u2019s important to just stay calm on the mound, or I\u2019m coming out the next inning. I\u2019ve learned to keep my emotions in check. You have to stay mentally locked in, no matter what the situation is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pratt managed to put up impressive numbers, including an ERA of 2.55 where he fanned 41 batters in 44 innings. He relied mostly on his 4-seam fastball, curveball and slider. He intends to try out for baseball at Bentley College, where he will attend in the fall majoring in finance, but will always savor the special times from being a Wachusett High Mountaineer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all about carrying a sense of pride and leading by example,\u201d Pratt said. \u201cWachusett\u2019s a big school. There are a lot of kids looking up to you, so you have to lead by example for the younger kids and make sure they know not to diminish the name by playing the game the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By John OrrellLandmark correspondent RUTLAND \u2014 High school student-athletes, just as professionals, have their circle of fandom \u2014 those true-blue supporters who admire and respect how players conduct themselves both on and off their respective playing surfaces. For Wachusett Regional High Class of 2023\u2019s Noah Pratt, arguably one of his most staunch supporters is none [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44828,"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-44825","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\/44825","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=44825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}