By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Catchers are like offensive linemen. By the end of the season, they are bruised, battered, mangled fingers, creaky knees. And pitchers and quarterbacks get all the press and headlines, what with their great hair and schoolboy smiles. Offensive guards are rarely the lead in a football story when a running back busts loose for 200 yards and three touchdowns. Likewise, it’s always “so-and-so threw a no-hitter”, not “so-and-so caught a no-hitter.” But, that’s what you sign on for when you don the “tools of ignorance”, as catcher’s gear is affectionately referred to as. Most high school baseball fans in South Jersey know who Matt Ardente is. He’s the ace pitcher at Absegami who recently finished his career with a school-record 23 wins. Not many know who Steve Hewa is. He’s the guy who was behind the dish for most of those 23 wins. Hewa has flown under the radar for much of his high school career, but that didn’t stop him from becoming one of the best catchers in South Jersey. He’ll continue his career at Rowan University this fall, but before graduating from Absegami a few weeks ago, Hewa certainly left his mark on the Braves’ baseball program. He helped lead the squad to consecutive state playoff appearances, and this year his offense was as good — if not better — than his rock-solid defense. He hit better than .440, had more than 30 hits and led the team in several other offensive categories. “There was nobody better catching for me. We’ve been friends since first grade and he’s been catching me ever since 12-year-old all-stars. I’m so glad that I had him as my catcher in high school. Some pitchers are great, but you are only as great as your catcher because he’s calling the game. Steve would block balls, throw guys out. He doesn’t get much of the credit that he earned,” Ardente said. “He can hit the ball when you need him to, he can block balls behind the plate, and he can throw guys out when you need him to. He might not have the size that a lot of colleges are looking for, but he sure can play ball and he’s going to give you everything he’s got. Even my dad would ask me why I would never shake him off. It’s because we were always on the same page.” 
Catcher Steve Hewa had an outstanding senior year for the Absegami baseball team, batting better than .400 while leading the Braves to a second straight state playoffs appearance. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “He’s the best overall catcher that I’ve had. He’s a consistent line-drive hitter, and he didn’t miss a single game in four years. In the all-conference voting, Steve lost out by one vote, but I was OK with that because it was (Mainland’s Jack) Loefflad. If it would have been Steve winning by a vote, that would have been OK, too. Steve threw out 50 percent of runners, and people wouldn’t run on him very much because they would watch the warm-ups and he’s putting the ball on the corner of the bag. He led our team in hits, RBIs and slugging, and he just quietly went about his business,” said Absegami coach Brian Wastell. “He’s a 3-year captain, and he’s a nice compliment to one of my other captains, Drew (Roesch), who is kind of an in-your-face type of guy. Steve is more, ‘hey guys, let’s go to work.'” Hewa said he can’t really pinpoint why he exploded offensively this year. Something finally just clicked, he said. “I don’t know what it was, but something just clicked for me this year and I was hitting consistently well all season,” Hewa said. “I didn’t let things get into my head as much as I did when I was younger. I think I was a lot more confident at the plate this year.” Hewa may not have seen his name in the headlines all that often this past season, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t capture the attention of opposing teams. “Hewa has been there for three years and I was impressed with him. I thought he was the most under-rated catcher in the whole league. He’s going to be really successful next year at Rowan,” said Sean Coyle, who is the pitching coach at Egg Harbor Township. “People don’t realize how much a good catcher can dictate a game in high school. You look at Mainland, (Kyle) Gerace and (Nick) Droboniku were awesome, but when you have a real strong catcher back there who when you miss your spot he fires the ball back at you at 80 mph, that kind of wakes you up a little bit,” Wastell said. “Nobody else sees it, but it’s the little things. Like when an umpire gets hit, you take a minute, go out to talk to the pitcher. We try to teach our catchers the right way to play baseball.” Hewa also, like many of his Absegami teammates, was an outstanding student during his high school career and also spent a lot of time doing community service, such as helping out special needs children at South Jersey Field of Dreams in Absecon. “We would have to yell at him on Saturdays to keep him out of bullpen sessions. He’s a 94 GPA kid. I really can’t say enough about him,” Wastell said. “Matt gets a lot of the attention, and deservedly so, but Steve is just a typical catcher. He gets overlooked. We have what’s called an MPP, a Most Productive Player, and we have a chart we use. If you strike out you lose points, if you move a runner along you gain points. Steve won that this year, and that’s a big deal for these guys. And he won it going away, it wasn’t even close.” Hewa likely won’t remember a lot of the statistics 10 or 20 years from now. What he will remember, however, is the bond this year’s Absegami baseball team shared, both on and off the field. “There were a lot of memories we made at Absegami, like the trips we took to Myrtle Beach my junior and senior years. The coaching staff really cared about us and helped us develop over the last four years,” Hewa said. “I’m really going to miss playing on the same team as all my friends. We’ve been playing together for the last 10 years. That’s definitely the stuff that stands out for me.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]
Absegami’s Steve Hewa may have been underrated, but he was far from under-appreciated
