Tommy McParland had the perfect opportunity to get down on himself and ruin his freshman season with the Nottingham High School varsity baseball team.
He didn’t take it.
It was April 6, the third game of his varsity career, and McParland made three errors during one nightmare inning in a 4-1 loss to Hopewell Valley. This was not a good way to begin the first week of a high school career. He felt disappointed, like he didn’t belong on the team.
That feeling lasted all of about 30 seconds.
“After the game my teammates picked me up,” McParland said. “They made me feel I was ready to be there, and I knew I had to be ready for the next game no matter how I played the game before.”
It is part of having short-term memory, which is extremely important in baseball when the games come at players in rapid-fire fashion, as an entire regular-season is jammed into seven weeks.
“You make an error, and the ball is going to find you the next time no matter what, so you have to be ready,” McParland said. “You’ve got to keep your head up and just make sure the next game you come back. When you make an error, you can’t let it affect you because you know you’ve got to keep playing. It’s a long season. You just got to keep grinding it out.”
That’s exactly what McParland did, as he led the Northstars with a .439 average (18-for-41) with two doubles, five RBI and seven runs scored. On the mound, he was 2-3 with a 3.94 ERA and team-leading 19 strikeouts. Half of the 24 runs he allowed were unearned.
Through Nottingham’s 4-4 start this season, the sophomore shortstop was third on the team with a .385 average (8-for-19) and led the team with six RBI batting out of the two-hole. He had a triple, stolen base and six runs scored.
He has yet to pitch this season, though, due to recovering from a removed blood clot this winter. In the offseason, he hit a little snag after the New Year when McParland detected some redness and swelling on the upper left side of his chest.
“I figured I better get it checked out,” he said. “It didn’t bother me, so I didn’t expect anything bad. When they first told me it was a blood clot, I didn’t know what they were going to do. It’s a little scary.”
The clot was a result of repetitive motion, but, McParland said, “It was weird because it was my left side. They say a lot of players get it in their right arm because they move it a lot. It was a freak thing. I forget what it’s called but the vein got blocked by the rib so they had to take half of that out.”
McParland spent two weeks in the hospital, which cut into the morning workout sessions with his baseball teammates.
“I had been going to some of the 6 a.m. workouts so I was already getting in shape,” He said. “After I got out, I still had a couple of weeks to get ready so I knew I’d be prepared.”
He finally got medical clearance to hit, but is still unable to pitch.
“He’s been swinging the bat really well,” coach Jim Maher said. “Tommy just comes to the park with a great attitude every day. He hits the ball the other way really well. He does a lot of things for us. He can play the infield. He can pitch for us. He’s been a top of the lineup hitter for us the last two years.”
McParland started his career in Hamilton PAL T-ball and is one of the few Nottingham Little League/Babe Ruth players who attend Nottingham rather than Steinert. He played outfield on what would become the first of five straight NLL 12-year-old District 12 championship teams (a streak still going).
Upon arriving in Babe Ruth, “Tommy Mac” was switched to shortstop for the 13-year-old All-Star tournament and has been there ever since.
McParland’s Babe Ruth teams were District One champions as 13-year-olds, reached the Mid-Atlantic Regionals at age 14 and got to states at age 15.
He credited his Little League and Babe Ruth coaches for helping him become ready-made for high school varsity.
“It makes it a lot easier,” McParland said. “The coaches are really good and you get the winning mindset, which is really important to carry over to high school.”
McParland came to Nottingham the same year that Maher returned to high school coaching. Because Maher had no previous experience with the Northstars’ upperclassmen he did not have emotional ties and had little trouble deciding things based on performance.
“In tryouts, you could just tell Tommy could play a little bit,” the coach said. “He handled himself well. He’s a very mature kid and a very smart kid. He’s Top 10 in his class. He’s a very good kid. We had no fear of putting him out there.”
McParland was one of three freshmen in the starting lineup, along with Bryce Fremgen and Nick Houghton. That provided a comfort level for all three.
“We were all together, and the older guys helped us a lot to get into the groove; they made us feel like we belonged here,” McParland said. “I was a little nervous at the beginning of the season. But as you settle in, I knew I had the capability to play with everyone. In your mind, you just have to know you need that experience under your belt. It was nerve-wracking the first couple of games, but I settled in after a while.”
McParland played, second, third and short last year before Maher finally settled on him at short. Maher said the Hopewell game was a one-off.
In helping Nottingham to its first state tournament berth in years, McParland hit safely in 11 games, had five multi-hit efforts and two three-hit performances.
His best effort on the mound came late in the season when he tossed six innings of seven-hit ball and did not allow an earned run in a win over Hightstown.
This past summer, he played American Legion ball with North Hamilton, saying “that was kind of like spring training for this season, it keeps you in the groove. And it helped hitting against college kids.”
Entering this season, he set no personal goals.
“It’s all team stuff,” he said. “We want to have a winning record and hopefully win some banners this year.”
After his success of last season, other teams became aware of McParland, so it was going to be a little tougher. In the first two weeks, however, he seemed as good, if not better than last year.
“I just had to keep the mindset of putting the ball in play, that’s the biggest thing,” McParland said. “No matter who’s pitching, you know you can always do it. It’s just baseball, we’ve been playing it for a while. You just have to keep playing, keep grinding.”
One of his biggest strengths has been going to right field on pitches.
In going the other way, it’s not like McParland is sacrificing his slugging percentage
“I was never a power hitter,” he said. “I’ve never hit a home run. I just put it in play.”
Maher feels McParland’s biggest strides from last year have been getting quicker feet at shortstop, and using the whole field.
“He shortens up, he has a good two-strike approach,” the coach said. “You don’t see him strike out much. He can bunt; he can run the bases. I wish more of our guys were like him. We’ve got to learn to hit the ball the other way.”
McParland has the same work ethic in the classroom, which has led to his lofty class ranking. He is also a member of the school’s Newspaper Club, but is still awaiting his first assignment.
“Studying is really important,” McParland said. “Even when you have baseball, you have to study no matter what. Grades come before sports.”
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