April 4, 2018
Notre Dame’s Friday starter Scott Tully takes you behind-the-scenes with the Irish baseball team. Tully, a graduate student and left-handed pitcher, is a three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll member out of Reading, Massachusetts.
“Trust the Process…” Though these three words have become synonymous with the rebuilding of the Philadelphia 76ers; every team, in every sport, at every level, has its own “process.” Our team is no different. From the first day of fall practice, and through the end of our season, we set a goal of getting 1% better every day.
Coaches, managers, support staff, players: we’re going to get 1% better today. Tomorrow, we’re going to wake up and make sure we get 1% better before the day ends. We’ll repeat this process every day until the season ends. Seems easy, right?
Wrong. It hasn’t been easy, and it won’t be for the rest of our season. It won’t be easy for the rest of our lives. Consistency is hard, its mundane. There’s a banality to this process that will inevitably lead your brain to beg you to deviate from the goal, to just give up. The temptation to quit comes when you can afford it the least: a day you’re feeling less than 100%, during an exam week that seems entirely devoid of sleep, down by a few runs early in a game, or in the midst of a particularly frustrating losing streak. It’s not a question of if, but when.
We knew this before the season started. Baseball is a game of failure. Success as a student-athlete, especially at Notre Dame, is fleeting. Everyone sees the 0-4, the error, the L hanging next to a pitcher’s name. Nobody sees the late nights in the library, the early workout the next morning, or the guys studying in the hotel after a game. So, yes, we all expected bumps in the road, but this team vowed to resist the temptation to shirk from a challenge. We’re going to trust our process instead, 1% at a time.
That’s why I’m so excited to watch this team evolve over the second half of the season, and into postseason play. Our record is not indicative of how good this team can be, and will be, when the dust settles. We’ve shown the ability to compete with any team in the country. We didn’t flinch when confronted with high-pressure situations at LSU and Florida State. We’ve piled up more than our share of frustrating losses, but improved with each one. Let this team continue to improve, 1% every day, and there won’t be a school in the country that wants to play us when May and June roll around.
You’re seeing it already. Guys like Tommy Sheehan, Cameron Junker, Cam Brown learning how to meet success as starting pitchers. Younger guys in the bullpen-Vail, Belcik, Holli, Martin, Kmet-all proving their ability to get outs late in games. Our offense, and defense, is anchored by guys like Podkul, Daily, Vierling, and JJ, all who exemplify the “1% better” approach taken by our program. Kersh isn’t hitting the cover off the ball by accident; it’s the culmination of three years dedicated to improving every single day, on the field and in the classroom.
This season is halfway over, but our goal is exactly the same: 1% better, every day. This weekend, against Clemson, is just our next opportunity.