Zehnder brings new life to BP baseball
Patrick Zehnder, left, and Kyle Nicholson formed a friendship that enabled them to share ideas and coach the Bethel Park baseball team to its first PIAA state championship in 33 years.
Patrick Zehnder, right, confers with Adam Laslo during a summer school session at Bethel Park High School. Zehnder is a special education and math instructor as well as the varsity baseball coach.
Patrick Zehnder adjusts one of the geometric robots designed by his students. Zehnder teaches math, including geometry, as well as special education at Bethel Park High School while also managing the varsity baseball team.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Patrick Zehnder speaks with members of the media after coaching Bethel Park to its first PIAA baseball championship title since 1988.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Bethel Park baseball coach Patrick Zehnder speaks with Jason Nuttridge during a break in the action of a game in 2021.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Bethel Park head coach Patrick Zehnder drives a baseball toward third base during infield practice in preparation for the PIAA championship game.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Bethel Park assistant coach Joe Ranalli makes his point to his players in a dugout conference during the Black Hawks’ PIAA semifinal victory over Central Mountain.
Patrick Zehnder holds his parents, Diane and Harry, in high regard.
The Zehnders encouraged their son to become an educator, baseball coach and may just be responsible for Bethel Park’s rebirth in baseball.
“My mom was pregnant with me when they won the last state championship,” Zehnder, the Black Hawks’ head coach, said of his program’s first PIAA title, which was won June 17, 1988.
Thirty-three years after he was born, on a similar summer day, Zehnder guided BP to the Class 5A state title.
Zehnder said he did not coach the Black Hawks to victory on his own. As a rookie coach, he relied upon teamwork and talent, particularly in his coaching ranks. His assistants included Joe Ranalli and Kyle Nicholson.
“Joe has forgotten more than I’ll ever know,” Zehnder said. “Everybody loves him. The respect he garners is amazing.”
While Ranalli has been around the athletic scene at Bethel Park High School, including as an assistant football coach, for nearly 60 years, Nicholson enjoyed the professional career Zehnder envied. Drafted by the San Francisco Giants, Nicholson earned Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors in 2008.
“Amazing,” Zehnder said upon reading his resume. “How fortunate for me and the whole program to have such accomplished assistants. If I can bring in people like this, then it helps the team and it helps me. I’m used to not being the smartest person in the room. You need to surround yourself with guys smarter and better than yourself in order to be successful.”
A quick study
Zehnder said he enjoyed an “average” scholastic career. He was a three-year varsity member of the Ambridge High School baseball team that qualified once for the WPIAL playoffs. During his sophomore season, the Bridgers lost to eventual PIAA runner-up Peters Township in the WPIAL playoffs.
“We were thrilled to get there,” Zehnder said. “The playoffs were a cool experience.”
A utility infielder, Zehnder said he saw little action while riding the pine.
“I ate a lot of licorice and was the best scorekeeper,” he said.
At Westminster College, Zehnder plied his trade while he continued to hone his humor.
“No accolades,” said Zehnder. “Director of morale. I didn’t get on the field a lot, but I was able to make an imprint energy-wise.”
Zehnder said the experienced helped him especially at Bethel Park.
“It helped me understand how players feel if they don’t have the biggest roles on teams,” he said. “But listen, you still are very important to our cause because you need everyone to buy into what you’re doing in order to win.”
As a Titan, Zehnder played on talented teams with multiple draft picks, but they did not make it far during the postseason. During his senior season, though, Zehnder said Westminster advanced to the PAC championship game with a “tight-knit” group that was shorter on talent.
That recipe fueled Zehnder.
The Black Hawks knocked off defending state champion Red Land, 4-2, in this year’s Class 5A final. The Patriots boasted two NCAA Division I recruits and a first-round MLB draft pick.
“Not only were we very talented but the team had that cohesiveness that could carried us further than talent,” Zehnder said.
A teacher first
Education opened the door to a career for Zehnder. After two years at Elizabeth-Forward and after replying to what he said was a “random” email, Zehnder was hired as a special education and math instructor at Bethel Park High School.
“It’s demanding sometimes, emotionally and energetically, but you see a ton of growth,” Zehnder said. “I have gotten the biggest and highest rewards.”
Zehnder credits his parents for leading him into education. His mother taught at the elementary level. His father taught and also coached the local high school basketball team for 20 seasons.
Today, Zehnder said he is living the stories they related to him when they came home “exhausted” yet still enthused about their occupation.
Zehnder said some days he lays on his kitchen floor “just to crack” his back and “catch his breath” as he thinks about what he is doing with his life as both a teacher and baseball head coach.
“I like teaching. I like coaching,” he said. “It makes it easier to be enthusiastic about it. This is what I was meant to do. That helps you bring the right mentality every day because I will get out of a meeting where I get screamed at by parent for a half hour and I will move back in class, and I have to teach math.
“I can’t be upset about that,” he added. “I have to move on. Switching gears very quickly at a moment’s notice and flexibility is such an important task both in coaching and in teaching.”
For Zehnder, positive things occur because of his attitude. Enthusiasm is entrenched in his personality. It has contributed to his success.
“You have to be positive,” he said. “How can you expect a student or a player to listen to you or do what you say, if you are not enthusiastic? If I am up there saying this is the Pythagorean theorem, learn it. Kids aren’t going to buy that.
“They have to first understand that you care for them and you care about what you are talking about. So I try to be consistent and a constant source of enthusiasm and positive energy.
Carrying on
Bethel Park entered the 2021 campaign with only three veteran starters: Eric Chalus, a Kent State recruit, as well as junior infielders David Kessler and Bo Conrad.
Zehnder’s first season in 2020 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Chalus and Kessler served as captains along with Josh Peters. The Black Hawks relied on all of their rostered players to post a 22-4 championship year.
“Every guy came through,” Zehnder said. “Every guy made a difference. We had some of the best players in the state in Eric and David but they also were the best leaders anyone could ask for along with Josh. There is no excuse for any one to start slacking when your best players are also your hardest workers. When we tell the team to do something, you better believe our captains are the first three to do it. The others can’t do anything but follow.”
Because seven starters return next season, the Black Hawks are favored to make another run at the PIAA crown. Zehnder said although he has a “blueprint” for success it won’t be easy to repeat as state champions.
“This group was willing to work hard and they had mental toughness,” he said. “Their effort and attitude was consistent. I could not have asked for a better responses from them for the battles and adversity we faced.”
Whether his players win in the future or compete beyond their scholastic years, Zehnder hopes his players treat people with respect and kindness.
“When you first encounter someone they could be having the, worst day of their entire life,” he said. “How you interact with that person might be the difference between how they go about the rest of their day. In my interactions with people, I try to leave them better mentally and emotionally than they were before I got there.
“Everybody deserves to be treated with respect,” he added. “At the next level and beyond, I know (my players) will be OK. If they treat people as they can and leave them better than before met them, they will be successful in life.”
Bethel Park baseball manager
Age: 32
Birthday: Dec. 9
Parents: Diane and Harry
Siblings: Kate Connor
High School: Ambridge
Sports: Baseball, soccer, hockey
College: Westminster
Major: Education
Residence: Castle Shannon
Color Blue
Book “Wooden on Leadership” by John Wooden
Movie Mrs. Doubtfire “Or any movie with Robin Williams in it.”
Food: Shrimp. “I love seafood.”
Restaurant: Red Lobster
Dream destination: Ireland. “I’m Irish. I want to go see the castles. I also like the weather. Gloomy, overcast and 60s.”
Person with whom you’d like to have dinner: Roberto Clemente.
Idol growing up: Jason Kendall. “I modeled everything around him. Wore the number 18 because of him. I felt he played the game the right way. Hard all the time. Plus, I started out as a catcher when I was younger.”
What do you do for fun: “I like to golf and I still play baseball. Nothing too wild and crazy. I don’t mind doing things myself.”
People might be surprised to know this about you: “I’m a dog person but I did get a cat, named Greg for Maddox, during the pandemic. He does his own thing and I do mine.”
What would you like to get around to doing: “I’m married to the game so I have no wife or kids. But I would like to have them some day. For now, I’m glad I have the freedom and time to coach baseball.”