The Souderton baseball team recognized the team’s seniors during a special ‘Senior Night’ celebration Friday. Photos provided by Souderton baseball. To have your team featured, send info/photos to SuburbanOneSports@comcast.net.
The baseball field at Harleysville Community Center is in game-ready condition, but on a beautiful spring day, the complex is deserted, its entrance blocked with orange cones. Two signs tell the story. A red banner stretching across the outfield fence greets even the most casual passerby. Its message – Souderton Indians Baseball 2019 6A State Champions – tells the story of happier times. At the entrance to the diamond 
is a sign that in four words effectively sums up the 2020 season that never happened: Field Closed Keep Off.
It’s been almost a year since the Indians took the field for a game, but it was a memorable one. On Friday, June 14, 2019, at Penn State University’s Medlar Field, the Indians celebrated their spot in history when first baseman Frank Pollock caught a foul popup that put the finishing touches on Souderton’s dramatic 6-3 come-from-behind win over SOL rival Central Bucks South, a win that secured the program’s first ever PIAA 6A state title.
The Indians entered the 2020 season looking to defend a state title they owned. They lost that opportunity when the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When American Legion shut down their regional and national tournament – not that I wished they’d shut it down, but it seemed to pave the way for PIAA to take its time making a decision,” coach Mike Childs said. “Honestly, I think PIAA did an awesome job of waiting, and they kept waiting.
“I think they did a great job to the point where somebody said, ‘This is not a good thing to do,’ and they cancelled the season. I respect that, but it kills me. Obviously, the safety of the kids is the most important thing without a doubt, and we have to be concerned about everybody.
“That Friday afternoon when it came out that the season was cancelled – you thought it was going to happen sometime, but that Friday afternoon it hits you, and you’re like, ‘I can’t believe this.’”
One day later, Childs sat down and wrote a letter that he sent to each member of his squad.
“I told them – the memories they’re missing is what I feel most bad about, the stuff that you’d look back on 10 years from now and say, ‘Remember this, remember this, remember this,’” the Indians’ coach said. “They’ve been playing baseball their whole lives, and they’ll still have those memories, but they won’t have their senior season memories. It’s not just baseball, it’s everything - it’s prom, it’s graduation.
“I won’t say it’s like a death in the family, but it’s a small feeling like that – something just died, this season died, and my heart went out to these seniors because they were looking forward to it. The kids that were on the team last year – to have the opportunity to defend the state title. I realize it’s very hard to go back to back, but just to have the opportunity to defend it would have been huge.”
Last Friday night, coach Mike Childs and his assistant coaches stopped by the homes of the team’s 11 senior players – Conlan Wall, Frank Pollock, Brian Reiner, David Overpeck, Evan Moyer, Dylan DiSciullo, Elliott Majka, Joey Fresta, Owen Bish, Ryan Canfield and Jake Ukropec - and four managers, paying tribute to a group that lost its entire 2020 season.
“I had the idea – ‘Let’s go visit their houses. Let me get the flowers like we usually do and present it to their moms,’’ Childs said.
Each senior received a gift as well as a lawn sign in a memorable ‘Senior Night.’ As for the season that never happened, the up side is the fact that the Indians are still the defending PIAA 6A state champions for another year, and Mike Childs is still the coach of the year. The team’s tweets have included the hashtag #stillstatechamps, adding a light moment to a heartbreaking season.
Coach Mike Childs said: “Conlan Wall is a three-year starter, a workhorse, who was going to be at the top of the lineup – leadoff guy. Not the biggest guy, but his heart is the size of a guy that’s 6-8 or 6-9. He’s a guy that will go to war with you every single day. He set the tone in the weight room and on the field. He’s turning singles into doubles, doubles into triples and just doing it. He was a leader on the field and the weight room and sets a precedent for our younger guys who say – ‘You know what, I want to be like Conlan.’
“Then you have a guy like Frank Pollack, who was a starter on the state championship team. He was a catcher that we asked to play first base. 
This year he was going to be back and forth from first base to catcher. Brian Reiner got a chance to start in that (state title) game. This year he was coming back off a basketball injury and was all ramped up and ready to go. Some of our other kids that contributed last year but didn’t contribute as much would have had a chance to start this year. I told these guys – ‘You’re part of the legacy that is going to be around forever. I just wanted that one last year for you.’
“Our juniors like Jacob Horton and (East Carolina commit) Erik Ritchie - in my opinion, Ritchie is one of the top players in the area and as a junior was going to prove himself, and that fell through. Now he has to come out as a senior, and I’m sure he’s going to be just as good, if not better, along with Horton and some of these other guys.
“I feel awful and I’m sure every coach does for their seniors. You see the senior tributes all over Twitter. The reason why you do this is because you care about the kids so much. Obviously, you’re going to put it out there and honor them as best as possible.
“I miss the boys, I miss practice, I miss listening to them go back and forth, listening to what they’re talking about. Even if it’s not baseball related, it’s just funny. They keep you young. The camaraderie is what I miss as a coach.
“This team didn’t get a chance to build it’s own identity, and that’s one thing we talked about when we set our goals. Last year’s team had its own identity. Every year the senior class sets their own identity, and this year’s class didn’t get a chance to set their own identity, which also killed me.”
Senior captain Conlan Wall said: “Friday night was really nice. I really appreciated that from the coaches. They’re all great, and I appreciate
everything they do. It kind of gave closure but not really. But just being able to around them for a little while because I’ve spent so much time with them – every day for hours. We have a good bond, and it was just nice to see them.
“I was really looking forward to trying to repeat and defend the title, but obviously, we weren’t given that opportunity. I was really down about it, and I think everybody on the team was. That team last year was so great, and we wanted to prove to everyone how great we could have been. There are always doubters, but we didn’t get that chance.
“I’m really hoping we get to (play a game) and hopefully will get to play on our field one more time. It would be really nice. Just being with everybody – a final sendoff would be amazing.”
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