At season's outset, Oneonta High's baseball team looked to have the ingredients necessary to make a deep run in the Section Four Class B playoffs.
But by the seventh game, conditions changed dramatically as many players on OHS' roster were suspended for a large chunk of the season after violating team rules.
Suddenly, Yellowjackets senior Jeff Wiltsie was cast into the role of leader. He didn't disappoint.
Be it in the field, at the plate, on the mound or as a mentor, Wiltsie took control of a young team seemingly headed for disaster and steered it to a respectable 11-10 record.
"Without his leadership and without him being the type of person he is, things would have been more difficult," OHS coach Joe Hughes said of Wiltsie, a shortstop/pitcher who batted a team-high .486 and hit five home runs this past spring. "We showed up and played every day. We weren't going to feel sorry for ourselves. Jeff was the leader of that attitude. ... We weren't going to let ourselves drown in this incident. We were going to move forward because of people like Jeff Wiltsie."
For his play, Wiltsie earned The Daily Star's Jim Hamilton Memorial Award, given to the area's top high school baseball player.
"I have butterflies right now," Wiltsie said upon learning of the honor. "I wanted it more than anything. I didn't know. Those kids from South Kortright did pretty well, too. I didn't know what would happen. I don't even know what to say."
South Kortright's boys did indeed do pretty well. The Rams capped a memorable academic year by winning their third sectional title, a 7-1 victory over Jefferson in the Class D baseball final.
Bob VanValkenburgh, who also coached SK to sectional boys titles in soccer and basketball _ the latter resulting in a state championship _ earned the Daily Star's Coach of the Year honor.
It marked the second time in 2009 that VanValkenburgh was named Coach of the Year by this newspaper, the first coming after SK's 26-0 basketball season.
Oneonta, with numerous returnees from a 16-6 team the season before, entered this season with high hopes.
But the Yellowjackets sputtered to a 2-4 start. Next came a huge blow, when Hughes said he suspended a "large number of players" for violating team rules.
Enter Wiltsie.
Oneonta followed by winning five straight games, using younger players and several junior varsity call-ups.
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"It developed me into being more of a leader, especially trying to push the younger kids in the right direction," said Wiltsie, the first OHS player to win the Jim Hamilton Award since Kyle Donnelly in 2006. "This gave an example of what not to do and they learned from it. I just tried to help everyone else as much as possible and lead my team to be the best we could be."
Wiltsie said it was difficult because the suspended players were guys he'd played with for many years.
"A lot of those kids are my best friends," he said. "I've been playing ball with them since we were seven years old. The young kids came in and played well. They were fearless. They just tried to prove themselves.
"But it was tough," he continued. "Mainly because they were my close friends. For your senior season, you want them to be there. With the team we had, it could have been real special. You have to live and learn. Everybody is human."
Nothing seemed to bother Wiltsie on the field.
His .486 average and five homers represented two of 10 offensive categories in which he led the Yellowjackets in 2009.
He also had team highs in runs (32), hits (35), RBIs (21), doubles (7), triples (3), stolen bases (10), walks (19) and on-base percentage (.602).
Hughes said he tracks 14 categories and the only ones Wiltsie didn't lead were at-bats, sacrifices, hit by pitch and strikeouts.
"He's a five-tool player," Hughes said. "He can run, he can hit for average, he can hit with power, he has a strong arm and he can field."
Wiltsie also pitched well, going 3-4 with a 3.41 ERA. He struck out 51 in 41 innings and completed seven of the eight games he started. Hughes said Wiltsie also drew the tough assignments, including a 6-1, season-ending loss to Lansing in a Class B quarterfinal.
"It's exciting because I want to see how well he does against good quality competition," Hughes said of Wiltsie, who'll play for Cortland State next season. "It's fun to watch him in big games."
Wiltsie will join a Cortland squad coming off a 31-14 season that included a 28th SUNY Athletic Conference title. The Red Dragons also reached the NCAA Division III tournament for the 17th time.
"They are good and they always have winning seasons," Wiltsie said. "I saw them play and coach (Joe) Brown is great coach. He recruited me as an outfielder and I saw an opportunity to go in there and have a chance to play. ... I thought it was the best opportunity for me to go in and play and also with a team that wins and has that reputation."
Hughes has coached seven players who've been drafted, including former New York Yankees utility player Clay Bellinger. He said Wiltsie has the potential to be drafted.
"He has the physical tools that are as good as any of the top five I've coached," Hughes said. "... What he has to do is believe in himself, to believe he can compete at the next level and to believe he has the talent to do so. If he can get that confidence and belief in himself, I think he's potentially a draftable guy in the future.
"He certainly has potential to play at Cortland and contribute," Hughes said. "Beyond that, he has the physical talents and attributes to play at higher levels."
The three teams VanValkenburgh coached this past academic year knew a little something about playing at high levels. They put together arguably one of the finest runs by one school in this area.
Though the soccer and baseball teams each lost in the state quarterfinals _ both to Hamilton _ the basketball team won the school's first state title for a boys program.
"Soccer, I knew we'd be pretty good and have a shot," said VanValkenburgh, also the school's athletic director. "Basketball, we were one of the better (Section) Four teams going in. And baseball, I didn't look at sectionals. I just hoped we could compete for our league. ... To win (sectionals) and then put a good showing against Hamilton, it was an unbelievable year. The kids will have a lot of good memories."
Winning the state championship in basketball could have worked against South Kortright early, but the Rams hardly missed a beat.
The victory over Jefferson in the sectional final gave the Rams their first sectional title in baseball. They fell to Hamilton, 4-2, in the state quarterfinals.
"It was tough getting started," said VanValkenburgh, whose team was led by Daily Star First-Team All-Stars Dan Many and Eric Burns. "A lot of the stuff we'd normally do in the gym, we didn't get to until late. We had a lot of veteran kids back. We knew we'd be pretty strong. Our pitching carried us early and come sectional time, we started hitting the ball.
"It was a group of kids who wanted to go out on a good note," he continued. "But to win sectionals, I didn't know where we'd get that done. It's just an outstanding year."
SK finished the baseball season with a 17-2 record, but it's hard to ignore the big picture.
VanValkenburgh's teams combined to go 61-5-1, using the senior core of Burns, Many, Kyle Hotaling and Josh Palmatier to great success from August through June.
Many was the school's co-valedictorian and Palmatier was the salutatorian.
"It was pretty tough at graduation watching those kids," said VanValkenburgh, who earned his second Daily Star baseball coaching honor, the first coming in 1994. "It was a dream. I'm just starting to have time to reflect on it."
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P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.
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