Published in the April 5, 2018 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Kevin Canty isn’t going home so much as he’s staying home. He’s a Lynnfield native who works in Peabody, but he’s also a current Wakefield resident, so when the WMHS baseball team needed a new head coach, Canty jumped at the opportunity.
“That was definitely a big part of it,” said Canty of coaching where he lives. “The facilities are great too. Having two tunnels inside, having the ability to use the field house, having a couple of turf fields; there were a lot of things I was excited about.”
Canty spent the last six seasons in charge of the baseball team at Bishop Fenwick where he built a solid, steady program while cultivating the identity of a tough out in the playoffs.
Last year, the Crusaders just snuck in to the Div. 3 North Tournament with a 10-10 record. As a 16-seed, Bishop Fenwick beat Bedford in the preliminaries by one run, before upsetting the number-one seed, Whittier Tech, 3-2. Then they knocked off Hamilton-Wenham in the quarters with another one-run win. It was a perfect example of the type of team Canty wants to build in Wakefield. Even if they’re not the most talented in the Middlesex League, the Warriors will be at their best during the toughest of moments.
“Even on teams with an average record we found ways to win (in the tournament) by pitching well and playing great defense,” said Canty. “My teams are usually mentally tough where we can handle those pressure situations.”
Bishop Fenwick won at least one game each time they made the tournament during Canty’s six years there, including semi-final runs during his first two seasons as well. The Crusaders missed the tournament just once during those six years. Wakefield baseball hasn’t won a tournament game in over 10 years. The Warriors have made the D2 North tournament just three times since 2007, and they were dismissed in the first round in each of those seasons.
The talent is here, as Wakefield remains one of the best baseball towns around. It just might take a little guidance and roots that run all the way from Walsh to Fernald Field.
There are pros and cons to running a private school program, but one of the drawbacks is having no knowledge of who might someday suit up for your team. Canty is excited to be back in the public school realm, (he spent five years as an assistant at Peabody High), because now it becomes a town-wide endeavor where the coach can build relationships with Wakefield Little League and track the progress of players climbing the ranks. Which is what Wakefield baseball fans should be most excited about: Canty is here for the long haul.
“Working with little league, Babe Ruth all that stuff to try to all be on the same page, will be great,” said Canty.
It might take some time, or maybe not. Wakefield isn’t the most experienced team this year but there is a nice group of senior leaders on the 2018 team who might be the perfect Warriors to help Canty instill his style of play immediately, mostly because there are some obvious similarities to Canty’s style and the type of baseball his new team as been playing all their lives. It’s fundamentals, attention to detail and toughness. It’s Wakefield baseball, and now it’s Canty’s turn to translate that into success at the high school level.
“My goal is to build this into a program that’s successful for a long time. Year in, year out, we just want to be successful.”
