Pat Moriarty Prepares to Take Over Deerfield Academy Baseball

Coach Pat Moriarty with his family last season.  Photo by Dave Bloniarz.

By John McGuirk (@patsfan1313)

SPRINGFIELD - When the opportunity presented itself, Pat Moriarty simply could not let it pass by.

Having spent nearly half of his life at one place, Moriarty, and his family, began to generate some discussion regarding life down the road and what lied beyond the hedges.

As if it were fate, a lifestyle altering opportunity did arise. Albeit much quicker than expected.

Last month, Moriarty, the longtime head baseball coach at former Cathedral High School, now Pope Francis High School in Springfield, was offered and accepted the same position at prestigious Deerfield Academy. A chance to coach at such a highly-reputable academic institution like Deerfield does not come about too often. So, once Moriarty discovered the head coaching position had become vacant, he immediately spun into action.

Taconic Baseball Edges Pope Francis in D1 West Pitching Duel

By John McGuirk (@patsfan1313)

SPRINGFIELD - After the final out was recorded, and the traditional handshakes and goodbye hugs were done, Pope Francis coach Pat Moriarty took a stroll all by his lonesome across the Forest Park diamond one last time.

Wanting to spend a few minutes to gather himself, Moriarty had come face to face with the reality that he had coached his final game in a Cardinals uniform.

Having announced earlier this season that he, along with his family, will be moving to Deerfield Academy, where he will be taking over the head coaching responsibilities there beginning next season, Moriarty was trying to come to grips with it all.

Making things more difficult was the fact that his team had just been eliminated from the Division 1 Western Mass. tournament, falling to Taconic 1-0 Wednesday afternoon in eight innings.

Pope Francis Baseball Spoils Taconic's Perfect Season

By John McGuirk (@Patsfan1313)

SPRINGFIELD - Taconic knew it was on the verge of making history, but once the Braves realized they would be in for a major tussle against Pope Francis, that mindset quickly changed to survival mode.

In a game that embellished a playoff-type atmosphere from start to finish, it was the host Cardinals who came away triumphant, following Kevin Murphy's ninth inning, walk-off RBI single which gave Pope Francis a 2-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Forest Park.

St. John's (Shrewsbury) Baseball Runs Away from Exhausted Pope Francis

By John McGuirk (@patsfan1313)

SPRINGFIELD - With the beginning of the spring season starting out in less than favorable weather conditions, many teams had no choice but to postpone some games, while left scrambling to find suitable make-up dates.

Which brings us to Pope Francis. Fair or unfair, the Cardinals were thrown into the fire this week. Beginning on Monday, a bit of re-shuffling of the schedule had them playing four games in four days.

Apparently Pope Francis athletic director John Goda must think Cardinals coach Pat Moriarty has enough arms within his pitching rotation to pile this many games on top of one another, instead of spreading them out over the next few weeks.  Pope Francis has just three pitchers that it can honesty rely on, and all were used heavily earlier in the week.

Facing St. John's (Shrewsbury) on Thursday marked Pope Francis' fourth game of this span.  It also marked a meeting between two Super 8 clubs from a year ago.

Fresh off a heart-breaking walk-off loss at Minnechaug late Wednesday night, the turnaround for the Cardinals would  no doubt be brief.

Moriarty had no choice but to dip into his thin well of back end hurlers, and it showed as the Pioneers rouged up four of them, en route to an easy 11-0 victory at Forest Park.

Pope Francis Plates Two Late to Beat St. Peter-Marian

By John McGuirk (@patsfan1313)

WORCESTER - Wacky, crazy or insane.

Whatever adjective you choose, any would apply to Tuesday’s Pope Francis at St. Peter-Marian baseball game.

In a contest which had it all, from gritty pitching to timely hitting to a large number of miscues, and a plethora of base runners left stranded, the Cardinals ultimately found a way to prevail. as they scored two runs in the top of the eighth and held on for a 5-4 victory.