LYNN — You enter your senior season understanding that your days wearing a high school uniform are numbered. But at St. Mary’s, senior co-captain Jared Coppola is making the most of his final season wearing the Spartans uniform.
“Jared’s a little bit of a late bloomer,” St. Mary’s coach Derek Dana said. “He’s always had the physical talent. He came in great shape this year. He doesn’t overthink things. He just sees it and hits it, and he’s been hitting it hard.
“He’s having a fantastic senior year,” Dana said. “He’s been excellent. He can play wherever you need him to play. I wish I had him for two more years. I’ve been coaching for 12 years and I can’t think of a better senior year all-around.”
If Coppola continues to carry the Spartans, St. Mary’s could be in store for a deep run in the Division 2 North state tournament.
“That would mean a lot,” Coppola, a four-year varsity player and Lynn native, said. “That’s been our team goal for quite a while now. Last year was an upset for us when we lost to Beverly (in the state tournament). We’d like to make up for that one. We definitely have the team for it.
“All the seniors are on the same page,” Coppola said. “They know the potential this team has. They know what we can do if we can string it all together.”
Coppola plays third base, shortstop and pitches in relief. He leads the team in batting average (.424) hits (28), doubles (nine) and is tied for the team lead in runs scored (15).
“Jared’s having a fantastic senior year,” Dana said. “He’s been a great captain, leading kids, doing everything the coaches ask. It’s really nice to see a kid like Jared have that much success.
“We’ve played a lot of good teams,” Dana said. “Jared’s been pretty much the best player on the field most games.”
This past weekend, Coppola was named the MVP of the Nipper Clancy Tournament. He went 4-for-7 with two RBI and scored two runs in wins over North Reading and English. More importantly, Coppola said, was that St. Mary’s picked up a pair of wins and won the tournament.
“We haven’t done very well in that tournament in some previous years,” Coppola said. “We went in with the mindset that we have to hit the ball and play St. Mary’s baseball. That was big for us, especially with the state tournament coming up. We just want to keep moving from there.”
On the mound, Coppola has given the Spartans a reliable option out of the bullpen. In nine appearances, Coppola’s 2-1 with two saves.
“He can come into any situation,” Dana said. “He’s closed some games for us. We have some other guys that can take the ball in the rotation. We know we can fill in the blanks anywhere we need to with Jared and that’s a nice thing to have.”
For Coppola, the key to giving his teammates a lift on the mound comes down to mentality.
“My mindset is just to do my job, get through the batters I need to get through to get us on track,” Coppola said. “My goal is to get us back in the dugout so we can get back to swinging the bats, not let up any runs and keep the game moving.”
It also comes down to maintaining the right mindset at the plate.
“I just want to keep the order moving,” Coppola said. “I want to do anything I can to get on base. If everyone can keep the order moving nobody’s going to stop us. One guy does his job, the next guy does his and we go from there.”
The Spartans (14-6), now in the closing stretch of their regular season, have already punched their ticket to the state tournament. But with two games remaining on their schedule (at Winchester Friday, at Cardinal Spellman Saturday), there’s still work to be done in hopes of improving their seeding.
“We don’t want to take our foot off the gas,” Coppola said. “We want to go into the tournament with as much momentum as we can. We want to show the state what we’re all about. We want to keep playing our best baseball and continue moving in the right direction.
“If we’re playing our best baseball I don’t think there’s a team that can beat us,” Coppola said. “We just have to keep moving forward and get better every day.”
