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Hawks hoping to leave mark heading into regional finals

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Armwood's Kristian Calibuso is greeted at the plate after his homerun during the region semifinals.

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By ADAM ADKINS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 13, 2009

SEFFNER - Every high school athlete would love to leave their mark on their program. The seniors on Armwood's baseball team have a chance to do just that.

The Hawks are on the cusp of accomplishing something no group in program history has done - reach the state baseball tournament. And it's something the Hawks (24-5) seniors are well aware of entering a best-of-three Class 5A region final series against Oviedo Hagerty (16-13), which begins Friday at Armwood.

"We talk about it every day," senior third baseman Kristian Calibuso said. "We're right there, and I know we can do it."

Only three times in program history has Armwood been this deep in the state playoffs, but both previous trips (1996 and 2000) resulted in losses. However, good fortunes have been a constant for the Hawks in 2009 - after all, Armwood claimed the program's first district title in 20 years. So it would only seem fitting for that string of success to continue.

"We don't want to put too much on that," senior pitcher Robert Benincasa said, "but we feel like we've got a good thing going."

Hawks coach Mike Wrenn saw the makings of a good thing during the fall season, when Armwood won tournaments at Saint Leo and the University of Tampa against some of Hillsborough County's top programs. The one thing Wrenn knew his team needed was peer leadership, and he turned to the entire senior class and urged the players to step up to the plate.

They did, and that's what he believes has pushed the Hawks to the level they're at now.

"They're the ones that are supposed to lead by example. I kind of just put that in their hands to lead the team," Wrenn said of the team's seniors. "Throughout the whole year, I just kind of talked to them on the side, 'Here is what you need to do. Look at those guys, keep pushing them.' Sometimes I didn't even need to talk to them. A lot of stuff they did on their own. This is a good senior class that I've got here. They work hard, and they're good kids. That's a good thing to have."

What the Hawks have now is a ton of confidence. The biggest boost came Friday, when they knocked off Brandon for the second time in eight days. The region semifinal win against the Eagles, in a sense, validated the Hawks' season to this point, Benincasa said.

"I think, overall, now we all feel like we've kind of achieved something," Benincasa said. "If you ask any one of our players, we're going to state. We feel like we're going to be one of the final four teams."

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