Mike Steffan has made his decision.
A year ago, at least publicly, the dual-sport athlete hadn’t yet decided whether to pursue a future in baseball or hockey. Even as a sophomore, he’d excelled in both.
Steffan began playing both baseball and hockey around age 3, following in his father’s footsteps in both sports. His summers were spent on the baseball diamond, his winters at ice rinks both near and far.
“Just playing every summer with my friends; just a lot of fun every summer, spending it at the diamonds every day,” Steffan said. “Same thing during the winter, going on trips with all your friends and staying in the hotel. Those are memories you won’t forget, spending those times. You’ll never get those back.”
Hockey and baseball are obviously about as different as two sports can be, but Steffan could find a few similarities or, at the very least, aspects of each sport that help him to be better at the other.
“I just think that each sport helps with my athleticism and contributes to the other sport,” he explained. “Also, there are some skills that apply to both, such as strength and speed, so working on those will help out in both sports and make me an overall better athlete.”
Steffan also has a similar role in each sport for Williamsville East. He’s a captain on both teams as a junior.
“It’s been fun to have a leadership role on both teams and kinda get a big role on the team,” Steffan said. “It’s just fun to have a leadership role, be a part of everything, and it makes you more part of the team.”
Both decisions were made by his coaches — Williamsville East hockey coach Mike Torrillo and baseball coach Jerry Gasz.
“I guess they see leadership in me and that I can rally the boys to do well and act as a leader both on and off the field and on and off the ice for them to look up to and to come to with any problems,” Steffan said.
In his high school hockey career, Steffan had enough memories to last a lifetime by the end of his sophomore year with two section championships already under his belt. This past season, Steffan’s first as a captain, Will East hockey fell to Kenmore East in the section finals, but it was still a season that Steffan was proud of.
“I thought we did well, a lot better than people thought it would be,” Steffan said. “And it was a lot of fun. We didn’t end up doing as well as we wanted to, but we still made it to the section finals, got to play at First Niagara Center, so that’s always fun.”
Steffan’s confidence has grown with experience from last year to this year, and although the hockey season was one that Steffan was proud of, baseball saw the Flames make history as they lost in the state finals on June 11. The game went to nine innings before a home run downed the Flames, 6-5.
They were hoping for more of the same magic that had given them a walk-off win in the semifinals earlier that same day, and that game currently stands as Steffan’s favorite memory of high school baseball, replacing a game this season in which Steffan hit two home runs.
“We were down all game and battled back in the last inning to win it,” Steffan explained. “It was just a really exciting game all around and was a team win with everyone contributing. Everyone was always on their feet talking, and it was fun to be a part of.”
Although another walk-off win would have made the day a perfect one, Steffan spoke of the entire weekend with fondness, and he’s already looking forward to next year with many of this year’s key players returning for another season.
“States was a lot of fun this year,” Steffan said. “It brought the team closer together. Going to the minor league game and hanging out in the hotel the night before is something that I know everyone enjoyed. I think that it will give us motivation for next year to not only make it back to states but win that final game. We have a lot of returners and know that we will have a good team, so the goal for next year’s team will be to finish what we couldn’t finish this year. We still made it the furthest an East baseball team has ever gone, but next year we want to be the second team in school history to win a state championship, and that’s what we are going to strive for.”
Steffan hopes that baseball goes beyond just next season for him. He explained that he’s found more of a passion for baseball than for hockey in the past year, and his goal is to play baseball in college.
He’ll spend the rest of his high school career working constantly to improve his baseball game. The decision to pursue baseball over hockey forced Steffan to call it quits on travel hockey.
“I want to play baseball at the collegiate level, so I have to train in the fall and in the winter,” Steffan explained. “Travel hockey takes a lot out of that, and you’re going away a lot every weekend, so that’s just more time to train and get ready for baseball.”
Baseball will take up the majority of Steffan’s time for the foreseeable future.
“I want to keep growing as a player, getting better every year, so hopefully I’ll do even better than this year,” Steffan said. “I’m playing with Full Circuit Power in Orchard Park and just training a lot, working hard to get where I want to be.”
In his free time, Steffan will play more baseball, as he hopes to join the Jurek American Legion Baseball team for a few games this summer as well.
Although his focus is on baseball, Steffan will remain a captain for Williamsville East hockey next season, and the effort he puts into hockey isn’t likely to diminish. Just like East baseball, the hockey team expects to return several key players next season as well, and Steffan hopes to finish strong.
“I think we’ll have a good team next year,” he said. “A lot of returners, a lot of the same boys back, so I think we’ll have a good team next year.”
UPDATE:
I'm very excited to say that I have committed to play D1 baseball at Canisius College! Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way.
— mike (@Mike_Steffan) July 19, 2016