OLD ORCHARD BEACH ”“ They wrapped up their first season of life the way they began it.
Triumphantly.
The fact that the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide could muster up just seven wins in between, while chalking up 33 losses ”“ many while in the throes of two double-digit losing skids ”“ was of no consequence.
Their heart-stopping, 3-2 extra inning win over the New Bedford BaySox before a season-high 890 fans at The Ballpark made that teeth-gritting and knuckle cracking worth the pain.
So the jubilant pile up at second base with Marcus Way ”“ who delivered the game-winning RBI single ”“ at the bottom wasn’t to celebrate an NECBL championship.
“But it sure felt like it,” said catcher Tim Quinn. “After as many games as we’ve lost. It’s been kind of rough. That pig pile made up for it.”
Tide manager Inaki Ormaechea agreed.
“As far as wins and losses,” said Ormaechea, “we weren’t very good. But it was like one of my coaching buddies told me, ‘we’re the best, worst team in the league.’ We just can’t win from the sixth inning on. But we did it today, and that was great.”
It was accomplished with a rousing bottom of the ninth rally that erased a 2-0 lead held by New Bedford, which needed a win to keep its playoff hopes alive.
Solo homers by James Roche and Quinn, the third round tripper of the year for each, did the trick.
“It was the same approach I had all season,” said Quinn of his pivotal at bat against BaySox reliever Derek Alex. “I was just trying to see something for a strike and hit it hard.”
He did just that, clearing the fence in dead center.
“It was lucky,” Quinn said.
If so, it could signal a change in luck for the Tide, who enjoyed little good fortune after relocating from Lowell, Mass.
The franchise set up shop at The Ballpark under a one-year, event license agreement with the Town of Old Orchard Beach.
However, Tide owner Doug Ayotte is hoping to sign a long lasting lease with the town to insure that the team remains in OOB.
“We’re both looking for a multi-year commitment,” said Ayotte, “which we’d like to work out in the next month to two months. I’ve had conversations with two of the town counselors who both said they’d love to have us come back again. But obviously there are a number of factors that have to be resolved. The biggest thing is a multi-year deal.”
Although he has been involved with the NECBL for more than a decade, Ayotte said that the first year in Old Orchard Beach has been an eye-opener.
“We’ve learned so much during the last two and a half months,” he said, adding that while support from the residents of OOB has been strong, he and his staff will need to make a stronger push to attract tourists. “We know we need to do more to attract the resort community.
“But we know that everything that needs to be fixed, can be fixed. It’s just going to take some work and some thought and some time.”
Ayotte said he is hoping to keep the Tide’s field staff, which includes Ormachea along with coaches Jared Lemieux and Dana Dresser, intact for the 2012 season.
Ormaechea, who had previously managed in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League, said he’d love to come back next year.
“Once we do that,” he said, “then we can start putting a team together.”
Ormaechea’s situation was made more complicated when, shortly before the Tide’s season began, he and other members of the University of Hartford coaching staff, which had been his primary job, were let go after the Spring season.
“This business is cutthroat,” Ormaechea said. “You don’t win, the next group comes in.”
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