By Clark Judge.
OLD SAYBROOK – Some victories you remember more than others. Some you even cherish. And, if you’re lucky, a few you may want to enshrine.
Then there’s Haddam-Killingworth’s 2-0 defeat of Old Saybrook here Monday afternoon. It was all three.
That’s because it was the 700th win of coach Mark Brookes’ career, and if that sounds like a lot, it is. Only one coach in Connecticut scholastic baseball history has more, and that’s North Haven’s Bob DeMayo, still active at the age of 88 with 917.
“That’s insane,” Cougars’ pitcher Alex Sheehan of Brookes’ achievement.
Agreed. But almost as remarkable is that all of Brookes’ victories have been at the same school: Haddam-Killingworth High, where he started coaching in the late 1970s when it first opened. Going 8-10 his first year there, he hasn’t had a losing season since — qualifying for the state tournament every season, reaching the finals five times and the semifinals 12, winning 10 Shoreline Conference championships and producing a remarkable 700-301 record.
“It’s a nice number,” Brookes said of the 700 victories.
Nope. It’s more than that.
“Seven hundred wins is legendary,” said Old Sabyrook coach Nick Hahn. “There’s no other way to put it.”
Under ordinary circumstances, there wasn’t much remarkable about Brookes’ latest triumph — other than the two-hit pitching of Sheehan, the Cougars’ starter, and closer Alden Halfinger. For four innings, Sheehan was locked in a scoreless duel with the Rams’ Gabe Kaar before Luke DiMauro’s fifth-inning, two-out double produced two unearned runs.
The Cougars threatened an inning later, but reliever Jake Butler pitched out of no-out, bases loaded jam to keep the score close. And then … well, that was it. Old Saybrook never threatened afterward.
Escaping scoring threats in the third and fourth innings, Sheehan settled down, retiring six of the last seven batters he faced – including four by strikeouts – before yielding to Halfinger in the seventh. Of Old Saybrook’s last 11 outs, eight were strikeouts, five of them looking.
“It’s an honor,” Sheehan said of the victory, “knowing that they can call on me in big games.”
There were few bigger games this season than Monday’s contest for Haddam-Killingworth, now 9-2, and not because Old Saybrook is a conference threat. Because it’s not. The Rams fell to 3-7 with the loss. But because of the implications for Brookes, whom wife Rae admitted seemed more nervous than usual before it began.
“Of course, he’ll never admit it,” she said.
And he didn’t, not after Hahn and Monday’s umpires congratulated him immediately afterward. Not after he and the team were presented with T-shirts that read “Coach Mark Brookes 700 wins” across the back. Not after congratulatory brownies and cake were passed out to Brookes, his players and fans who drove here to witness history. Not after a commemorative plaque was unveiled. And not after he stood patiently in front of TV cameras for interviews with reporters.
“I never threw a pitch,” he said of the victory. “I never fielded a ground ball or caught a fly ball. But it’s a pleasure to work with kids like these who put a lot of time in, really take it seriously and listen to what I have to say to try to improve themselves. I’ve been lucky to be in a situation where I have kids like that year in and year out.”
Maybe. But Brookes’ record speaks for itself. He’s produced over four decades of winning baseball … and nothing but winning baseball … with different generations of teenagers. And that’s more than luck. It’s a product of a coach whose program demands the most from its players and usually gets it.
“Mark’s reputation is all over the state,” said Hahn, who previously coached at Guilford. “To win 700 games means not only are you good; you need to be great for a very long time. I think it’s a testament to him and the program that he runs.
“You’ve got to have no down years. It’s expected every single year that H-K is going to be a talented team that doesn’t beat themselves and that does things the right way. And it’s all just a reflection of him.”
Never was that more evident than Monday’s game, played under overcast skies. The Cougars prevailed because they made the plays Old Saybrook could not. DiMauro’s game-winning double in the fifth, for instance, was the first hit off Karr … but followed an error and hit batsman.
The Rams committed five errors, including a catcher’s interference, while Haddam-Killingworth committed none. Furthermore, Sheehan pitched out of a potential third-inning mess when, with runners on first and second and no outs, Old Saybrook attempted a sacrifice bunt. When the ball popped into the air, Sheehan caught it for the first out, then wheeled around to throw to second – catching the runner going to third.
Result: Double play. End of threat.
“He seemed to be able to find the outs,” Brookes said of his starter.
But that’s how it goes with Brookes’ pitchers and Brookes’ ballclubs … year … after year … after year. So now that he’s reached another landmark, continuing to move up the all-time ladder of the state’s best and brightest coaches, the inevitable question: How much longer?
“When I first started,” he said, “I thought 500 was a lot because ‘Whitey’ Pirurek (of Plainville and West Haven) had 500. I sort of had that in the back of my mind: 500. I didn’t really think I’d ever coach this long to get 700.
“But an inspiration is DeMayo. He’s 88 and (has) 60-some years coaching (since 1959). When I look at him, I say, ‘If he can coach at that age, I can keep going’ … as long as I enjoy it and have kids to work with like this.”
Wait. What?
“I think he could,” said Hahn. “It depends on how long he wants to do it, but I don’t see him leaving for a long time. So you never know.”
Photos by Clark Judge.
WINNINGEST BASEBALL COACHES IN CONNECTICUT H.S. HISTORY
(Chart courtesy of the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference)
- 917 — BOB DeMAYO (active), North Haven … 62 seasons (1959-present).
- 700 — MARK BROOKES (active), Haddam-Killingworth … 45 seasons (1976-present).
- 668 — JOHN FONTANA (deceased), Southington … 41 seasons (1962-2002).
- 600 — JIM PENDERS (retired), East Catholic-Manchester … 43 seasons (1969-2012)
- 525 — JOHN “WHITEY” PIRUREK (deceased), Plainville, West Haven … 39 seasons (1942-80).
