As the middle of February rolls around, the Calabasas varsity baseball team is once again getting ready for their time in the spotlight. They played their first game against Paraclete on Feb. 11th and won 6-2, and the Coyotes will look to keep up that success for the rest of the season.
In the last few years, the Coyotes have done nothing but triumph, as they won the Marmonte League Championships in 2022 and 2023 and the Division 2 CIF State Regional Championship in the latter. Even with the deserved grounds for celebration, their main focus is the upcoming season.
“I think last year was great, and it was an awesome experience, and we definitely celebrated, but ultimately, this is a new year, and we’ve moved on,” said head coach Thomas Cassidy. “The focus is for this team to create their journey and their legacy, and we’ve really just focused on this group and this year.”
The team does not expect to win it all again this year. However, if they keep their consistency and mentality rolling over from last year, the Coyotes are bound to pick up some traction.
“I don’t think our mindset’s really changed,” said senior Nate Castellon. “We’ve always played as a team, and good teams win games, and if we’re that good team, then we’re gonna keep winning our games.”
Calabasas’s outstanding performance in Division 2 last year bumped them into playing Division 1, where teams often have numerous players committed to playing collegiate baseball. Although this will be a new and much tougher level of competition, the Coyotes are excited.
“There’s some really good teams [in Division 1] like Harvard-Westlake, Notre Dame, and JSerra, who are the top-ranked teams in California and even the nation,” said senior Eamon Lynch. “The fact that we’re even in the same playing pool with them is awesome. A ton of kids in Division 1 are committed and prospects for Division 1 schools or even the MLB, so it’ll be a super fun mix of teams to play and compete against.”
Many of the seniors who helped Calabasas during that outstanding performance have graduated. This left a newer group in comparison to represent the 2024 Coyotes, but Cassidy does not plan on making any major changes to the construction of his squad.
“We have a lot of new guys, so we’ve spent more time this year on our system stuff and our plays just to get this group up to speed,” said Cassidy. “Last year’s group was more experienced, and they’d played more together, which meant we practiced more reps and making sure they were ready to play, but this year, we’ve focused on more systematic stuff because we have so many new guys.”
However, even with the loss of some talented seniors, the Coyotes’ chemistry is riding incredibly high going into the upcoming season.
“We’ve definitely come closer as a team and as friends,” said Lynch. “Our team is obviously still good talent-wise, but chemistry-wise, we’re all much closer friends now. In team sports, especially baseball, team chemistry really matters because you just have to play hard together every single game, so having a band of brothers is beneficial to the team.”
Being in the company of fellow Division 1 squads also means an influx of scouts will come and watch the Coyotes this upcoming season. For the Coyotes, this will be a large boost on the road to success.
“Last year, we had Phoenix Call, who brought in a few scouts who then brought a few eyes on him, me, and some of the other guys on the team, which was really big for us,” said Castellon, who’s currently committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. “Obviously, the next step in baseball is going to college and then playing pro ball. With D1 competition, there’s going to be even more scouts, which is going to be an avenue for success for the rest of our guys, which I’m really excited about.”
Overall, the Coyotes plan to stick to their guns and play the same game plan they’ve always played, no matter who their opponent is.
“Coming off of the win from D2, we’re gonna have a target on our back,” said Castellon. “People are going to know about us, but nothing really changes. We still have to play our own game and make a name for ourselves again.”
The Coyotes will play their next game at home against Quartz Hill today at 3:00 P.M.
