Tolios, Wakefield softball hoping to get a chance
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — Adjusting to life without sports has been a difficult challenge for Wakefield High’s spring sports teams.
Warriors of all games are doing their best to stay responsible while at the same time stick together to get through a pandemic that has already taken away the majority of their seasons.
“I’ve just been telling the girls to stay optimistic and hopeful that we still get to get out there this year,” said Wakefield softball head coach Chris Tolios. “We obviously understand the magnitude of the situation and how it’s bigger than us, but at the same time, it would be nice to be able to get back together and back to a sense of normalcy amidst this chaos.”
Normalcy has never been so coveted. Getting back to an average routine would mean so much to everyone.
“I hope what they all take out of this is just to appreciate what they have and each other as well as the opportunities and time they have together,” said Tolios about Wakefield’s softball student athletes. “I saw a quote on social media the other day that I sent to all of them. The gist of it was that after all of this passes, the next time you catch yourself saying ‘I have to go to practice’ try to change it to ‘I get to go to practice.’ That one connected with me and it seemed it did with the girls as well.
“What we would all give to be able to be at Vets on the lake right now in 40 degree rain is something I don’t think any of us would have said last year at this time.”
Perspective is one of the few silver linings of the pandemic in the sports world, especially at the high school level. If nothing else, at list it allows us to recognize what our own sports communities truly mean to us.
“This has been a really humbling experience for me,” said Tolios. “I’m in contact with the girls almost daily, especially the seniors, and to see and hear how much softball means to them and how much they want to play their last spring season together, it makes me realize how lucky and privileged I am to be a part of such memorable moments for these kids as they move through Wakefield High.
“I’ve always appreciated my job and what I do, but this situation definitely opens your eyes as to how much it means to the kids and makes me even more grateful to be the one that gets to go through both sports and school with them every single year.”
Rather than lamenting the loss of half a season, Tolios and the Warriors are choosing to stay optimistic and stay ready.
If school does return on May 4, Wakefield sports will start practice and prepare for an 8-12 game schedule and a postseason that will run until June 27.
“It’s nice that there is still hope for a season and tournament and we appreciate the work that the MIAA and the Middlesex League’s athletic directors are doing to try to salvage all of this,” said Tolios. “The excitement is that even after all of this, we can still have a shot to win a league championship and make the state tournament, something that we have been talking about since last summer in our summer leagues.
“The challenge, obviously, is going to be having to get ready so quick. We won’t have the luxury of 3-4 weeks of practice and scrimmages before our first game. Instead, it seems that if we get back out there on May 4, we will be right into our games the next week, so there is definitely going to be a learning curve and adjustment to try to shake off the rust and get ourselves into game shape right out of the gate.
“The only good thing is we are in the same boat as all of the other teams, so at that point, I think we’d all just be thankful that there is a season and getting the opportunity to play and hopefully send these seniors off the right way.”
