Dwyer Looks To Bounce Back To Winning Ways In 2014

Conditioning and Fundamentals are key components to the Panthers having a successful season.

In sports injuries are inevitable. Through the daily grind of practice, preparation, and the game itself players are going to get hurt. In some cases, an injury or injuries can end up completely changing a team’s season.

The 2013 Dwyer Panthers experienced that in full last year. A slew of injuries throughout the year hurt the team, keeping the storied program from repeating as district champions. While the injuries certainly were something tough to overcome, manager Frank Torre is not using them as an excuse for a disappointing season.

“We had a lot of injuries, which made it a challenge. But our goal was to repeat as district champs and make a run to states and we did not get it done,” Torre said. “So in my opinion, it was a failure. If you set goals and you fall short the season is not a success regardless of injuries or any adversity.”

Despite having a strong team after winning the district title in 2012, the Panthers were never really able to get anything going during the season. As a result they finished 12-13 and just 3-5 in the district, including a loss to Jupiter in the district semifinal game.

Torre has used the off season to move beyond that and prepare his team to have a bounce back season in 2014 starting with conditioning.

“One of the biggest things you have been working on this off season is conditioning,” Torre said. “Our guys have been working out with Coastal Performance since September to build up speed, strength and endurance.”

If Dwyer wants to win a district title and beyond this year they will have to get a lot out of a young core of players. The Panthers lost 10 players off of last year’s team including the stand out ace of their pitching staff Cheyne Bickel and senior infielder Hunter Hope. As a result, Torre will need his younger players to step up right away if the team wants to have success.

“Some younger guys will need to step up and prove they can be quality varsity players,” Torre admitted. “We have a tremendous freshmen class and some of them might get an opportunity sooner than you think.”

Tom Szapucki will be looked upon to be the ace of the Dwyer pitching staff in 2014.

The Panthers will still have some veteran leadership to help some of the younger players come along quickly. They will get Duke Stenkel back after missing the entire 2013 season due to injury. Torre will turn to Stenkel and others to take more of a leadership role both on and off the field.

“We are looking at Duke Stenkel and Brian Brooker to take on more of a leadership role this year,” Torre said. “Returning catcher Shane Olive has already been a leader for us but we need those two to also be leaders. Both through work ethic and by helping our younger guys in the development process.”

Another big help for this Dwyer team is the fact that Tom Szapucki returns and is only a junior. In just his sophomore season, Szapucki and Bickell teamed up to be a dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the Panthers rotation. Szapucki will be called on this year to anchor a pitching staff that Torre knows needs to show much improvement over last year.

“Tom will be relied on a lot this year, but our other arms need to show improvement to improve our pitching depth from last year,” Torre said.

The roster is not the only major change that Torre and his Dwyer Panthers will experience this year. In 2014 Dwyer drops from class 8A down to 7A, meaning they leave the district that they had been in for so many years with Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Palm Beach Central, and Wellington. The new 7A-13 district will have double that of their 8A-9 district, and will include Atlantic, Forrest Hill, Lake Worth, Olympic Heights, Palm Beach Lakes, Royal Palm Beach, and West Boca.

While Torre is sad to be leaving 8A, he knows that this new district will still be a challenge.

“I’m somewhat sad to leave 8A with Jupiter and Gardens in there with us, but 7A will give us plenty of challenges,” Torre said. “For me the rivalry is unchanged. We still want to beat those guys every time.”

Despite the fact that they will no longer be in the same district as Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens, it will not damper the rivalry between the schools. Dwyer will still have both teams on the schedule, but with the district changes will only play them each once a year instead of two. Torre thinks that continuing to schedule these tough, now out of district games will help them prepare for their new district and hopefully a deep post season run.

“We have 14 district games this year so we did not have alot of room for to many games but like always we will schedule the best teams around to prepare ourselves for the playoffs,” Torre said. “You can’t hide from challenges and be any good.”

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