Corey Uhalde’s blueprint for Sequoia baseball comes together in 2021

Many of the Ravens then lined up behind Holm to take turns hugging it out with Uhalde, who served as Sequoia’s baseball manager from 2010-20.

“He’s had the program for like the last 10 years, so he’s like the main person that helped us build this all,” Holm said. “Him showing his support out here every game, it’s a really big contributor to the game. It gives us a sense of motivation to want to do better because he’s our old coach and we want to do it for him.”

Uhalde stepped away from coaching after the shortened 2020 season after his wife, Jenny, gave birth to their first child, daughter Ally, on May 7, 2020. Uhalde still teaches at Sequoia, even though his family has relocated to Fairfield. Jenny used to teach at Menlo-Atherton prior to the move, and Uhalde said the two shared a friendly rivalry by betting on the outcome of baseball games between Sequoia and M-A — loser had to wash dishes.

When Uhalde took over the Sequoia baseball program in 2010, the team was coming off an abysmal 5-23 overall record. He immediately turned things around, leading the team to a 16-9-1 mark and a second-place finish in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division. He went on to record seven winning seasons and a career record of 152-119-5.

But while Sequoia was a regular CCS postseason qualifier in Uhalde’s time there, the team never advanced to the finals. Prior to Saturday’s 11-4 championship victory at San Benito, Sequoia hadn’t won a CCS title since its only previous finals appearance in 1994.

Yet bringing home a CCS trophy was always his goal.

“It didn’t always work out that way,” Uhalde said. “It didn’t ever work out that way. It’s hard to do. … I’ve been with Sequoia baseball longer than I’ve been with my wife. It’s just meant so much to me that [current manager Mike Doyle] put in so much energy, so much passion, to help them get to this point.”

Uhalde only saw four losing seasons at the helm of Sequoia, and the only back-to-back losing seasons came in 2018 and ’19. But this Uhalde used to map out the 2021 team that would finally fulfill the championship vision, as he used the 2019 season to call up a group of sophomores that included Oliver Montclare, JP Boyle, Ben Singler and Holm.

“We called them up as sophomores when we were going through our lowest point as a program,” Uhalde said. “And that’s where our rebuild started.”

Doyle has been a longtime presence in the program as well. He previously served as a varsity assistant and junior-varsity head coach until stepping away for several years to enjoy being a fan when his son Nolan played varsity ball for Sequoia.

When Uhalde stepped down as manager after the 2020 season, it took his players by surprise at first, according to Holm.

“I was kind of sad at first,” Holm said. “He’s been here for a while now and he felt like it was the right time. He wanted to coach last year … because the chemistry was on a different level. So, we wanted to do it for him this year.”

Uhalde stayed away from the baseball field during most of the regular season, preferring a clean break and allowing Doyle to put his stamp on the team. But during the postseason, Uhalde attended every game, even stopping by the dugout during the Ravens’ CCS semifinal win June 16 at Leland, cradling 13-month-old Ally in his arms.

Then during Saturday’s championship, Uhalde stood dugout-side for most of the day. And following the program’s first CCS championship victory in 27 years, he asked Doyle if he could address the team in the postgame powwow.

“I didn’t really plan to address them,” Uhalde said. “As the game was kind of winding down, I found myself getting wrapped up in the moment. … I just kind of went out there and asked Mike … if I could share that moment with them.”

Not that Uhalde wanted to take any of the credit.

“I was happy to be there at that moment, but they put all the work in themselves,” Uhalde said.

But it was Uhalde’s work, and vision, of the past 11 years that set up Sequoia for success. And the 2021 CCS title — the modern success of the baseball program overall — has as much to do with him as anybody.

“It was my baby for a long time,” Uhalde said. “I put a lot of heart into it and a lot of players, and a lot of coaches did the same with it for a lot of years. … So, we’re happy the trophy is in the family now.”