Cardinal Newman Hungry For Continued Success

Tyler Krull will lead the pitching staff again this year.

Last year was a year of firsts for manager Sean Comfort and his Cardinal Newman Crusaders.

Comfort took over for long-time legendary manager Jack Kokinda, and he led his alma mater to the regional playoffs for the first time in 20 years. The team went 18-10 overall and helped to restore pride and tradition in a program accustomed to such traditions. While there is always room for improvement, overall Comfort knows that it was a successful first season.

“You always think you can do better, but I was happy looking back after the season was over,” Comfort said. “I was happy with the fact that our number one goal was teaching the team how to win, and once they did that they started winning a lot and a lot of good things came from that.”

The fact that his team had success on the field certainly made the transition to head coaching easier for Comfort. But it was more than just that, it was getting to take over the program that he played on and worked at under Kokinda.

“It was a positive transition last year and I loved it. This is my alma mater. I bleed blue and gold and I wanted to come back here,” said Comfort. “I was excited to come back and take over this program. It was an honor to take over for Jack and I wanted to do the best that I could for the school and the tradition of the program.”

Comfort certainly did that, taking his Crusaders all the way to the regional quarterfinals and turning some heads in the process. Cardinal Newman got some quality wins during the season over traditional Palm Beach County powers Jupiter and Dwyer. The fact that Comfort was able to do all that in his first year back at Cardinal Newman was something that he was very proud of.

“It was very rewarding,” Comfort said. “The team came a long way. We had a very young team at the start of the season and they came a long way. They started to win and it was rewarding to see how far they were able to go.”

Bruce Steel (right) is one of the players that Coach Comfort will look at to take over as a team leader.

Expectations are now high in his second year as he returns all but one of his starters from last year. The Crusaders won’t be flying under anyone’s radars this year and as a result, Comfort will expect a lot more out of his guys. They know what to do and how to do it, and he wants their mindset every day to be to come in and work hard. If the team can minimize distractions and their pitching and defense stay sharp, they feel they can make another nice run.

The Crusaders will have to make that run this year without one of their key leaders from last year’s team. Senior catcher Kyle Cunningham graduated, not only leaving a big gap behind the plate but also leaving a void on the field as a team leader. Batting over 300 and with a slugging percentage and on base percentage of over 500, Comfort knows he won’t be an easy guy to replace.

“It’s tough to replace a Kyle Cunningham,” Comfort said. “I don’t think you really can. The only thing I can do is see some of the characteristics of some of these other guys and see how they lead in other ways. Bruce Steel is a leader by example and a hard worker. He is the first one here and the last one to leave and puts everything into the game. He is also great with the younger kids. We will definitely be re-building at the catching position though this year.”

Cardinal Newman lost six seniors total. Comfort will have to look to others on his team to make up for the numbers that he lost with the departure of Cunningham on the field as well. Steel, Anthony Zaleski, Daniel Cole, Luis Bestero, Patrick Foley, and Tyler Krull will all be called upon to step up and lead the team in on-field production this year. Zaleski batted over .400 last year, while Tyler Krull was the ace of the pitching staff. Besteiro had a slugging percentage of around .500 and is looking to improve even more for this upcoming season.

“Every single game I want to make a big impact and make a difference to help us win every single game,” Besteiro said. “During the off season I worked on getting quicker both on the base paths and in the outfield as well as using the whole field when hitting at the plate and focusing more on driving the ball.”

Continuing to get better and improve has been the theme of the offseason for Cardinal Newman. The players have been training hard, which is something that Comfort hopes will show on the field once the season rolls around. The players have come into the conditioning program hard, and have been training six days a week in the weight room and on the field. They are trying to put some muscle on them, and Comfort praises that their work ethic has been phenomenal.

A return to regionals and possibly even states won’t be an easy one this upcoming season. As a result of the new district make-up Cardinal Newman went from a three team district to a five team district that includes some of the toughest clubs in the area. While they keep St. Andrews, they lose Lincoln Park but add American Heritage-Delray, Pope John Paul II, and Kings Academy, who is coming off of back-to-back district titles of their own.

“It is definitely going to be challenging, and we are up for the challenge,” said Comfort. “There are very competitive, well-coached clubs coming in and everyday is going to be a grind. We have a tough district but we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Both Comfort and his players know that while it will be a tougher path to return to regionals, the competition that they will face during their new district schedule will help prepare them for postseason play.

“We are going to compete in this district even though it is going to be a lot harder now,” Krull said. “The new district is going to help us a lot in preparing for the postseason because the teams in the postseason are going to be amazing teams. Now that we are going to play amazing teams throughout the season, I feel like we will plays just as well in the playoffs.”

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