The biggest strike against the baseball season
Ian Ritchings, Vision TV
The sun sets upon an empty field, concluding another season of Crusader baseball. Like everything else in the world, the season was different this year. Athletes had to follow certain safety precautions, such as wearing masks in the field and dugout, as well as required temperature checks. “I would say everyone was pretty compliant,” said head coach Landon Powell. “And we got to go out and play baseball, which is what most of these kids want to be doing.”
The compliance of the team should come as no surprise. Eight months into a global pandemic, these guidelines have become commonplace. And according to team captain Treyce Bouknight, the biggest strike against this baseball season is in a whole different ballpark.
“For me, the biggest difference between this year and years past is more off-the-field stuff,” Bouknight said. “We can’t be as a team in the locker room or weight room. It’s been challenging to get everybody out there and get to know everybody.”
This sentiment is echoed by Ethan Garner, the longest-tenured member of the team who added, “We have the biggest team we ever had, so [we had trouble] trying to get everyone used to each other. Not just [by being] around each other, but [to] start growing connections and relationships between people.”
Since restrictions caused the athletes to not spend as much time together off the field, they made the most out of the time they had on the field, through practices and (of course) when game time finally came. “If you come to one of our inner-squads and practices,” Bouknight continues, “they’re real laid back. We’re communicating and hanging out [with each other]. We had to capitalize on those moments more.”
So as the turf grows colder, and the year winds down, the Crusader baseball team can look back at the moments they had, despite everything the world was going through. On the field or off the field, together or away, they are a team. They are a family.
