Walk into any winning locker room and you'll find celebration. Walk into one after a 2-18 record, and you'll find out what a coach is really made of.

This spring, Millis High School baseball coach Zach Herring gave his players something that doesn't show up in the win column: a lesson in what it truly means to be part of a team and show up for each other.

Herring's path to Millis wound its way across the country. A Fresno, Calif., native, he played two years of junior college baseball before finishing his career at La Salle University. After moving to Massachusetts, he spent four years as an assistant coach at Newton North, helping out at both the middle school and varsity levels.

When he moved on from Newton North, had he interviewed at both Newton North and Millis, but it was Millis that won him over.

"I'd never been to Millis before. It was my first time in the town, my first time being at the school, and I just loved it. I love the small-town vibe," Herring said. Athletic Director Derek Finney gave him the job in November, and the two got to work building a roster from scratch, even putting together a middle school team, which played 12 games this season.

What Herring inherited was about as young as it gets. With no seniors and no sophomores on the roster, coach Herring leaned on four healthy juniors, five freshmen and two eighth graders to fill out its lineup.

So, after fielding the youngest team in the Tri-Valley League, and the only Division 5 program in the league, Herring believes the lessons learned this year will pay off for a roster that returns in full next spring.

"It was a learning experience," Herring said. "Some of our guys were seeing arms they hadn't seen before. We had a little bit of a lull about three-quarters of the way through the season, and then by the end of the year we were playing our best ball."

That improvement showed up at the most important time. After not picking up a win until its third-to-last game, Millis earned the No. 31 seed in the playoffs and pulled off an upset over a 13-1 team in a preliminary round game it hosted.

The Mohawks then pushed the No. 2 seed to the brink, trailing just 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning before their season came to a close.

"Our guys competed. We ended up playing our best ball, and everyone wanted to keep playing," Herring said. "Our attitudes were great. We return with every single guy next year, and there's a lot more excitement now that we've ripped this Band-Aid off and cut our teeth this year."

Through the difficult stretches, Herring kept his players motivated and focused on the bigger picture, reminding them that the relationships and the rebuild extend beyond any single game.

"We've been together for two years. Growth is a long-term thing; we're growing throughout the season, we're growing each week," Herring said. "Honestly, the players made it easy. Nobody likes losing, and losing 90 percent of your games isn't easy, but they understood we're building something."

As for what he hopes his players take away from his coaching, Herring circled back to one word: Belief. What they're building starts with belief in themselves and in each other.

"Being the smallest school, I think Millis sometimes gets written off. I want these guys to feel like they're believed in and that they can compete in this league," Herring said. "If I'm hard on them about the little things, or we're having tough practices during a tough season, it's because I believe in them and I see the bigger picture."

That belief, Herring said, has been mutual. Reflecting on his first year leading the program, he credited his players with teaching him just as much as he's taught them.

"These guys are gritty. They have great personalities, and they're really connected to each other... a lot of them grew up together and came through these small schools together," Herring said. "They taught me what it's like to be part of a tight-knit community and a tight-knit team...Their resilience facing these bigger schools, that's what stuck with me."

With a clear sense of what Millis baseball can be, Herring said the groundwork for team culture will be built well before the season starts, with five returning seniors taking the lead in captain's practices, weight room sessions and informal workouts. Keeping the Mohawks sharp and connected is our focus.

And if Herring's excitement is any indication, the foundation is strong. "We have some good seniors coming back, a couple guys with the ability to play in college, and I feel the excitement from these kids," Herring said. "It's a great group of kids, and I'm more excited for them than anything."

What you can't see is the trust and everything this team built around it - and what they're coming back to finish. For a first-year coach navigating a 2-18 season with a roster full of freshmen and eighth graders, keeping kids coming to practice every day with their heads up, believing in something bigger than themselves, is no small thing.

These kids have displayed heart and character and have learned what it means to show up, even when nothing is going their way. That they did, and that they finished the season playing their best baseball, might say more about what Herring is building in Millis than any win total ever could.