The season that wasn't: Reno High graduates look back at lost 2020 baseball season

Sports can teach life lessons. Sometimes that lesson is persevering when sports are taken away.

One of the most talented high school baseball teams in Northern Nevada in recent memory never got the chance to prove it on the field, but many of those players on the 2020 Reno High team are still playing the sport or excelling in other areas.

In 2020, the Huskies were poised to have a great year, having come off a narrow loss in the state championship in 2019, playing three games in one day on the final day of the state tournament. Most of those players were back in 2020. That Huskies roster included 13 seniors, nine of whom went on to play college baseball — seven are still playing baseball in college and one is a pro.

But the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused the postponement and eventually the cancellation of the spring sports season in Nevada. Sports that fall were also postponed to spring of 2021.

Reno coach Pete Savage said that 2020 team grew closer despite the cancellation.

"The lesson there is that that life isn't fair," Savage said. "People are going through tough times."

Savage still gets choked up talking about that Huskies 2020 team, looking at a poster of the team in the Reno batting cage building.

"We have this poster in here to remind our current team about our standards and the standards of excellence, and just keep going," Savage said. "Sometimes life's not fair. These kids didn't get to play their senior year. It was tough. Really tough."

Lessons from the lost season

The RGJ took a look at where the 13 are now and what they learned from that disappointing 2020 lost season.

Pat Barry is a junior at Oregon Tech. Barry said his biggest takeaway from that lost year was to not take anything for granted.

“The opportunity to play was taken from us, and it was due to something completely uncontrollable,” Barry wrote. “We had a talented team, as evidenced by the amount of guys still playing college baseball, but what made us special was we simply loved being around each other. That made every practice enjoyable, regardless of whether it was just an hour batting practice or a 22-inning scrimmage in October.”

The Huskies continued to practice in 2020 and were able to go play games in other surrounding states.

“Not being able to play that season put things in a different perspective for us, and now I think we cherish the rare times we’re able to be together more because we’ve seen that it can be taken away from us," Barry wrote.

Caedon Kottinger is now a pitcher at UCLA, where Pete Savage’s brother John is the head coach.

Kottinger said the 2020 Reno High team was not only gifted on the baseball field, but had a strong brotherhood.

He said having that season canceled was tough for everyone.

“It was especially hard for the guys on that 2020 Reno High team considering how much time we had spent with each other and the incredible team chemistry we built. I always tell people that even with as physically talented as that 2020 team was, I believe we were even more talented from a team chemistry aspect,” Kottinger said. “We had each and every guy pulling for one another whether they were on the field or on the bench.”

He said team chemistry can help a team go farther than physical attributes alone.

“We were so physically talented, but we didn’t all come into high school like that. We were all hard workers that not only made our personal skills better, but made each other better,” Kottinger wrote.

He added that dealing with the lost season did not get in the way of the players putting in the work to improve.

“No matter what adversity comes your way, you can’t let it get in the way of your work. All the guys on that team found a way to keep getting work in during quarantine,” Kottinger wrote. “Cherish the moments you have with each team because it goes by so fast and you never know exactly when it’s going to come to an end.

"Lastly, use your learning moments and experiences to help you grow. Find comfort in uncomfortable situations to grow. What the world saw in 2020 was unprecedented, but it was important for all of us to be comfortable in that uncomfortable situation so that we could stay ready for whatever came next for us. The 2020 team had a brotherhood that will last a lifetime.”

The heart and soul of that 2020 team was catcher Lane Oliphant. He said the biggest lesson from losing that high school season was to not take anything for granted.

Oliphant is now a catcher on the San Francisco Dons collegiate baseball team.

“Nothing is guaranteed. It gave me a perspective on how lucky we all have been to play the game of baseball,” Oliphant wrote. “Some of my best friends throughout my childhood and still today were on that team. The 2020 season reminds me how lucky I am to still get to play the game I love and reminds me of all the great people that I have gotten the chance to play with, especially in that 2020 season.”

He said the uncertainty of that season brought the players closer then before.

"The families and the friendships from that 2020 group are truly very special. It has been awesome to continue to follow the successes of all my best friends throughout their college and now professional careers," Oliphant wrote. "Although I know it was not the outcome that we all wanted, I think it provided us all with some valuable lessons that have helped shape our careers today. It turned us into tougher people and players for sure."

Savage helped keep the group together in 2020. He organized weekly zoom calls to talk with the players and would have guest speakers join, such as Reno High grad Garrett Hampson. He also organized a drive by celebration where he he would have the whole team dress in their uniforms, then follow him in each of their cars and drive by a player's house, honking horns.

The 13 Reno seniors in 2020

• Skylar Hales, Texas Rangers organization, pitcher in High-A, has hit 100 mph pitching
• Coleman Schmidt, St Mary's, was West Coast Conference student-athlete of the year, hit 17 home runs last season
• Gunner Gouldsmith, Sacramento State, switch-hitting starting shortstop ("He hates to lose more than anybody I've ever coached," Savage said)
• Lane Oliphant, USF, backup catcher; he caught all 21 innings in one day in the 2019 state tournament
• Caedon Kottinger, UCLA, right-handed pitcher; senior, wants to be a commercial pilot; started college at San Mateo before going to UCLA; was pitcher of the year his junior season at Reno ("extremely hard worker, very coachable" Savage said)
• Chris Shaffer, CS San Bernardino, left-handed pitcher, started college at Taft, then earned a scholarship at San Bernardino
• Pat Barry, junior, Oregon Tech, starting shortstop, earned a presidential scholarship award for Nevada, but he missed baseball so he went to play baseball at Butte, then at Oregon Tech; will graduate with a degree in engineering
• Ryan Forderhase, goes to Nevada for academics
• Craig Watland, played at Butte, now attending Nevada
• Kyle Fermoile, will graduate from Boise State with engineering degree
• Nate Hunsberger, graduated from Vanderbilt ("Quite possibly the most competitive and intelligent individual I've coached," Savage said)
• Carson Isip, would have been a starter in 2020; the Huskies now give out a "Carson Isip" award to the best teammate every game ("He's the best teammate I've ever coached," Savage said)
• Jake Novacek, Savage said Novacek was the only pinch-runner he has had who kept his own running game chart

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: The season that wasn't: Reno High graduates look back at lost 2020 baseball season