White River Junction
Considering the injuries Upper Valley has dealt with in the last week, Sorrells’ resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time.
A natural first baseman and .298 hitter for Lipscomb in the spring, Sorrells started his summer season by going 0-for-18 with five strikeouts in his first five games. Speaking after Thursday’s 4-1 win over Vermont at the Maxfield Sports Comples, Sorrells pinned his struggles to a change in his hitting stance for the purposes of producing a little bit more power. But something about it didn’t feel right to him.
“It was definitely frustrating,” Sorrells said. “Some of the pitches I usually hit I wasn’t even touching, which was definitely really frustrating for me. … After four or five games not touching the ball, just barely hitting the ball, I had changed up my stance to a higher stance, so I just decided to go back to my lower stance, which helped me put contact on the ball, put depth on the ball.”
His first hit came on June 14, a 2-0 win over the Keene Swamp Bats in which the Monroe, Ga., native went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
But July has been a different month for the Lipscomb infielder; in the last 10 games, Sorrells has been Upper Valley’s best hitter, batting .452 with 14 hits and six RBIs. He hit his first home run of the summer on Friday, a lead-off solo shot in the second inning against the North Adams SteepleCats at Joe Wolfe Field.
“It’s definitely been a tough season, starting off,” he added. “Talking to everybody, talking to the coaches, they just said, ‘Stay with it.’ I changed up my approach a little bit, and it ended up helping me out a lot.”
Szafarski has always been high on Sorrells’ defensive game. Natural first basemen, said Upper Valley’s first-year skipper, are rare to come by in summer ball. Quite often, players are placed there to keep a power-hitting bat in the lineup.
Sorrells’ struggles at the plate coupled with his defensive ability created an early-season conundrum for Szafarski and the Nighthawks coaching staff. Keeping him in the lineup for his ability at first base meant leaving a struggling bat in the lineup.
Now, five weeks later, Sorrells is one of Upper Valley’s most complete athletes.
“I didn’t mind so much because he was playing so well defensively,” Szafarski said. “He saved us a bunch of runs. It’s easy for the infielders when you’ve got a guy like that over there. You’ve got a margin for error.
“The start he got off to was probably somewhat fluky for him,” he added. “He’s got a level swing, a line-drive approach. The beginning of the year he tried to change his swing, stand more upright to hit more doubles and home runs. He just went back to what was comfortable.”
Sorrells said he’s been playing first base since he was in eighth grade.
“I just like the interaction on every play,” he said. “I love the ball just coming at me every time. That’s definitely a challenge, but it’s a good challenge.”
Upper Valley’s infield likes it, too.
Upper Valley’s offensive struggles in the last week have been well documented. One thing’s for sure: Sorrells has made himself a vital cog in the Nighthawks machine, and he’ll likely play a crucial role in the final week of the regular season as Upper Valley tries to clinch first place in the NECBL’s Northern Division.
“I think we were so used to getting hits all the time, people started changing their approaches a little bit,” Sorrells said of the team’s recent struggles. “Once people started getting back to the basics a little bit, we went to where we should be and we were hitting fine.”
Ask Sorrells about what sticking to the basics does to your game. He would know with the way his summer has gone.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.