Winning a title is hard, but defending it might be even harder. Several area high school baseball coaches will get to test that theory this season.
All four public school classifications, and all three conferences in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, had new champions in 2014. Three schools — Reservoir (Class 3A), Southern (2A) and Smithsburg (1A) — won their first titles.
"Last year, we were so hungry because we had been so close before," said Reservoir coach Adam Leader, who has 13 seniors, including reigning Maryland Gatorade Player of the Year Cody Morris. "For the past five or six years, we have been really good. It was a matter of getting over that hump. ... The people in our program have been there and want to get back there."
Each defending champion has its own series of obstacles to navigate to get back to the top perch, and several area teams are poised to win titles. On paper, Archbishop Spalding, Reservoir, St. Mary's and Southern might be better than they were a year ago.
"It was a big deal for the team to win, especially for last year's seniors," Spalding coach Joe Palumbo said. "The good thing about baseball is you go right onto your summer teams, and then when we got back in September, it was straight into the weight room. I tell our guys it is our job to fill the championship baseball banner up in our gym, and this is what you need to do."
Winning won't be easy. James M. Bennett was the last school to repeat in Class 3A — in 2011 and 2012 — but it has been much longer in Class 2A. Southern is looking to be the first 2A team to win back-to-back titles since Northeast in 1991 and 1992.
"It has taken a while to develop program depth and stability here, but I think we finally have it," Bulldogs coach Frank Hood said. "The coaching staff has taken that first title and used it as a carrot in front of the kids. It's always easier to get them to buy in to what you are trying to do when the results are easily accessible."
Chesapeake-AA coach Ken King, whose roster suffered the most attrition because of graduation, knows no matter the situation, teams will be gunning for his Cougars. Chesapeake is attempting to be the first 4A repeat champion since Bowie in 1981 and 1982.
"Repeating is so hard. There are so many teams out there that feel like, if a hit or call had gone their way, they might have been there instead of you," King said. "Losing the kind of seniors we had was devastating, but that opens up so many opportunities to other guys anxious of proving themselves."
For Palumbo, the philosophy on repeating is simple.
"We don't look at it as defending a championship," he said, "we approach it as simply winning this year."