By Will Kraus, Bates College
Photos by Josh Muir, Endicott College
August 9, 2019
What Happened
The Kettleers pile on in celebration of the championship
Cotuit Kettleers baseball caps and gloves were thrown high into the late evening of Lowell Park as 31 young men who mostly had never met one another just two months ago piled on top of each other as a team of champions in front of home plate.
Cotuit enhanced their great history of winning, sweeping Harwich 10-3 in game two and capturing their seventeenth Cape League title, the most by any Cape League team.
It was truly a storybook ending for the Kettleers, for a special team, a team that came together in left field following the game to say their good-byes, seemingly not wanting to leave even as the darkness made it nearly impossible to distinguish faces.
It was hard for many to say good-bye to what was time and again referred to by players as “the best summer of my life.”
Casey Schmitt, Cape League Championship MVP
Casey Schmitt’s versatility was on full display, earning him the Most Valuable Player award
The Kettleers surrounds Schmitt (second from left) after his second homer of the game
for the Cape League Championship.
“Absolutely, as fitting as can be.” said Coach Roberts of Schmitt. “He deserved the MVP just like Gonzales and the San Diego State coaches gave me one more inning. I could pitch Casey one more inning. One more inning. All week it was my prayer to have Casey Schmitt on the mound to close out the Cape League Championship.”
Roberts’ prayer came true as Schmitt threw a scoreless ninth, the game ending on a double play Adam Oviedo (Oral Roberts) took care of all by himself, snagging a line drive before beating Joey Wiemer Jr. (Cincinnati) back to second for the force out.
Schmitt also smashed two solo home runs in the game to left field.
The first bomb came in the first inning, leaving Schmitt’s bat at 104 miles per hour, traveling 392 feet into the Lowell Park woods.
The team takes a group picture with the trophy
That put Cotuit in front 2-0. His second bomb of the night made it 3-0.
The Lowell Loyal loved both dingers, giving Schmitt a standing ovation as he rounded the bases, pointing to his dug out with a smile plastered on his face.
When asked of the MVP honor Schmitt replied “I mean that’s special, but it means more to me that we won it all,” exemplifying the team oriented atmosphere that allowed Cotuit to win it all in 2019.