Haymarket Senators want a repeat

Last season the Haymarket Senators saw one of their most successful seasons in recent history, pushing away unpleasant memories of bankruptcy and team sales in favor of a playoff appear-ance.

The Senators, members of the Valley Baseball League, won 18 games last year, including one against top-seed Waynesboro in the first round of postseason play.

To build on that success will take focus, says second-year manager Ryan Fecteau.

"For me, last year came down to 'who wants it more?'" Fecteau said. "Even at the college level, it's not always talent that wins. Talent obviously helps -- it's going to win you a lot of games -- but when it comes down to it in a playoff setting, it's which team wants it more?"

Perhaps no one on Haymarket's roster this year epitomizes that sentiment than outfielder Joe Conforti, entering his third and final season with the Senators. A junior from Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., Conforti is the kind of grinder that Fecteau will point to when he needs to motivate his troops this year.

"Last year, what I noticed about him is that he plays hard every single day," said Fecteau, who took the team over when Billy Shields left partway through the 2008 season. "Joe doesn't take plays off."

Conforti could offer more than just a hard-nosed attitude, though. He was among the Sea-hawks' best hitters this year, posting career highs in almost every offensive category.

"It was kind of a breakout year for me," said Conforti, who hit .310 with three triples and 22 walks in 47 games (39 starts). He was also second on the team with a .428 on-base per-centage and had the fewest errors (one) among all Wagner regulars.

The transformation from a career .239 hitter after his sophomore year began last summer. Con-forti, despite sporadic playing time to start the season, found his way into the Senators' everyday lineup and impressed Fecteau with his attitude.

"When you focus on the things you can control -- like playing hard and showing up every-day focused -- more often than not you're going to have some success," Fecteau said. "The hitting's not always going to be there, but if you take care of the other things, you'll be alright."

The Staten Island native was more than alright once he was in the lineup. He made the all-star team in the middle of the summer as a representative of the North team. More than that, Conforti won the game's MVP award after hitting a home run in his only at-bat and making a diving catch in the outfield.

"I definitely didn't expect that," Conforti said. "I was on my way home actually for Fourth of July break and I got a call from [ownership member] Jayme Newell and she said, 'You made the all-star team.' I spent two days at home and then hurried back."

"There are a bunch of good players in this league and they're coming from all over the country," said Grant Sasser, a pitcher back from last year's squad. "For him to bring that back, that's really special. It's special for this team -- more people look at this team as a better team.

"He plays the game like it's supposed to be played," Sasser added. "He's not somebody who's going to go out there and have a whole bunch of home runs, but he'll put together some good consecutive games and be a good foundation for us to play off of."

As for his affinity for the Haymarket franchise, Conforti wouldn't want to be anywhere else during the summer.

"It's a great atmosphere here. It's great baseball down here in the Val-ley," he said. "The owners are great. They treat the players first class and they've treated me very well since I've been here. I can only say good things about being here in Haymarket."

When Fecteau went recruiting this year, he looked for players with good character and, like Con-forti, play hard.

"I tried to focus on schools that I know the coaches or that the teams and programs are well-respected," he said. "For the most part, these guys had good seasons. Most of them are everyday guys. A couple guys had to redshirt this season, but they're 100 percent now. I think there's a good mix of some speed, some power and some guys that can do some different things."

As for that win during last year's postseason, Conforti sees it as just a sign of things to come.

"Looking at the roster, we have some young guys, but kids from talented schools," Conforti said. "I think we're going to make the playoffs and go even further than we did last year. Hopefully we can win a championship and bring success to Haymarket and the great owners."