Brady Konopaski

Brady Konopaski

BASEBALL: Wilder seeking players from throughout area as tryouts start Monday

PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball is seeking the best players on the North Olympic Peninsula when it opens tryouts next week.

The best from the entire Peninsula, not just Port Angeles and Sequim, from where most Wilder players have historically hailed.

“The main focus is we want to create a program that is an Olympic Peninsula program,” new Wilder head coach Mike Politika said.

“We want the community to know that it’s not just a Port Angeles program.”

Wilder, an elite Senior Babe Ruth team, will hold tryouts Monday and Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Civic Field in Port Angeles.

Players are to meet at the south end of the stadium 15 minutes prior to tryouts each day.

Tryouts are open to all baseball players born prior to May 1, 1998, and on or after Jan. 1, 1995, from Forks, Joyce, Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend, Chimacum, Quilcene and surrounding areas.

Politika takes over as Wilder’s coach following the one-year tenure of Chad Wagner, who earlier this year also resigned as Port Angeles High School’s baseball coach after one year due to a new work schedule.

Politika is no stranger to Wilder, having served as an assistant to previous head coaches Scott Brodhun and Rob Merritt from 2006-12.

Politika also was a player in the program under Brodhun.

This year, Wilder also has been restructured to consist of a senior team and a junior team.

Politika will coach the senior team, which will be made up of 17- and 18-year-olds and possibly some 16-year-olds.

John Qualls is the head coach of the junior team.

Qualls seems like the perfect choice to coach the junior team.

Not only was he the coach when Wilder Baseball last had a junior team several years ago, Qualls also is the Sequim High School JV coach and he coached the Sequim 18U team last summer.

Like the Wilder junior team, Sequim 18U, which is now defunct, was largely made up of players ages 14 through 16.

So he’s familiar with many of the kids who will play on the junior team.

“I love that age group,” Qualls said.

“There is a great crop of kids coming up.”

The junior team will better prepare the players for the senior team.

It also makes it easier to include players from throughout the Peninsula.

“The sooner we can get these kids together, the more successful the senior program will be,” Qualls said.

The senior and junior teams will practice and play their home games at Civic Field.

The majority of the Wilder senior team’s games will be at home this season, but the junior team will spend much of its season on the road.

“That’s the breaks of a brand new program,” Qualls said.

The senior and junior teams will both play in the annual Firecracker Classic at Civic Field in early July.

Both teams also will play in the Senior Babe Ruth state tournament July 10-13. Wilder is hosting the tournament at Civic Field, which means the senior and junior teams both automatically qualify.

The state tournament winner earns a spot at the Babe Ruth World Series, which will be held in Ephrata in early August.

The regional tournament will be in Vancouver, Wash., so the Wilder players won’t have a chance to see a different part of the country should they reach the World Series this year.

On the bright side, though, they won’t have to travel far and they probably won’t be playing in 100-degree heat as they did at the 2012 World Series in Weimar, Texas.

Politika’s assistant coaches with the senior team will be Zac Moore and Perry Knudsen, both of Port Angeles.

Qualls’ coaching staff includes an assistant from Jefferson County, Darrin Dotson of Chimacum, along with Chris Young of Sequim and Buck Geiseke of and Derek Crain of Port Angeles.

Even players who previously played for Wilder must tryout Monday and Tuesday.

Politka said Wilder prefers to have players who played baseball in the spring, whether it was with a high school or college team, and who have aspirations to play college baseball.

For more information, email wilderbaseball@gmail.com.

More in Sports

Port Angeles’ Gus Halberg, here playing against Olympic earlier this month, scored 37 points against W.F. West on Saturday. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
WEEKEND HOOPS RECAP: Forks, Port Angeles win big; Sequim girls crush Foss

The Port Angeles and Forks boys basketball teams were the… Continue reading

Kinley Rondeau, left, and Peyton Johnson, Forks girls wrestling.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Kinley Rondeau and Peyton Johnson, Forks girls wrestling

The Hammerhead Invitational is one of the biggest wrestling tournaments in the… Continue reading

Hundreds of endurance athletes enjoy a variety of events and landscapes offered during the year by Peninsula Adventure Sports. (Matt Sagen/Cascadia Films)
PENINSULA ADVENTURE SPORTS: 2025 calendar of endurance and team events set

Peninsula Adventure Sports has announced its 2025 race lineup,… Continue reading

Port Angeles Roughriders
PREP BOYS ROUNDUP: Riders bury W.F. West in fourth quarter

Gus Halberg scores 37; Brock Hope with seven blocked shots

Forks Spartans
PREP WRESTLING: Forks girls shine at Hammerhead Invite

The Forks girls wrestling team had the most impressive showing… Continue reading

Sequim Wolves
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Sequim in total control in romp over Foss

The Sequim girls basketball team got 22 points from Gracie… Continue reading

Port Angeles Roughriders.
PORT ANGELES BASKETBALL: Roughriders lose another heartbreaker at the buzzer

The Port Angeles boys basketball team rallied in the fourth… Continue reading

Sequim's Victoria Nava rolls in a match Monday against Port Angeles at Laurel Lanes. Nava led the Sequim bowlers with a two-game score of 313 while Port Angeles' Zoey Van Gordon led all bowlers with a 337 . (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)
PREP ROUNDUP: Balanced Sequim girls outroll Port Angeles

The Sequim girls bowling team used consistent individual scores… Continue reading

Gus Halberg, Port Angeles basketball.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Gus Halberg, Port Angeles basketball

The boys on the Port Angeles basketball team had their backs against… Continue reading