With picture-perfect weather, an ideal setting, hundreds of their closest friends and family cheering them on, how could Calvary's baseball team ever lose? Never mind the score, everyone who came to Petco Park Friday evening to watch the Calvary Lions take on the Mountain Empire Redhawks walked away a winner.
It was much more than a typical baseball game. It is not often you see players walk on the field and instantly freeze in their tracks, with mouths opened in awe, as they take in the sight of an impeccably groomed major league baseball field. A field that they will be playing on in a matter of minutes.
Some players ran straight to the bench, touched the wood and sat where some of their favorite major leaguers sit nightly. Others dropped to their knees and started filling baggies and empty water bottles with dirt. Once the bat and helmet racks were discovered, there was a mad rush as to who could place their helmet first into their favorite Padre's storage bin. Coaches picked up the bullpen phones and jokingly barked out orders, cell phones were shooting pictures and taking video of every possible detail and some players simply sat down and took it all in.
Eventually, the players realized that they actually had to play a game and began to gingerly make their way onto the field. Team photos were taken and soon afterward the entire team gathered together to thank the Lord for the opportunity He had given them.
Soon afterward, the fans began trickling in and out came the cameras again. If you know anything about Calvary baseball it's that they are all business in their pre-game preparations and talking to anybody other than a teammate or coach is strictly off-limits. It is a time to focus on the task ahead. Not today. Today the game was secondary. The primary goal was to take it all in so the experience would be life-long memory, a memory to be shared with children and grandchildren. Players and coaches waved and talked to family and friends in the stands, with each taking pictures from both directions.
With game time quickly approaching, the players warmed-up and took fly balls in the putting green-like outfield grass. Egged on by the players, the coach belted a fungo over the centerfield wall - just for the fun of it. Who cares if they lost a $5.00 baseball?
A booming voice sounded out over the Petco Park PA system welcoming all to the park. Most in attendance thought it was the Padre's professional announcer, but Calvary had someone better in mind. Chris Nurding, father of junior leftfielder Alex Nurding, worked the game from the PA booth and did an absolutely outstanding job sounding like a Hall-of-Fame level broadcaster. Mike McNabb, Caleb Whitley's grandfather sat near him in the press box keeping the official score and handling the phones as both teams called him constantly with their replacements and changes.
Senior Gabriella Barbato, sang a tremendous rendition of the Star Spangled Banner as all the players were lined up following their announcements. Principal Jess Hetherington threw the ceremonial first pitch to Calvary catcher Caleb Whitley. It sailed in a bit high but that's ok because he's a soccer player. He probably could have kicked a strike though.
After all the hoopla died down, Jeremy Nurding, Alex's younger brother, yelled "Play Ball" and it was on. The Calvary Lions, wearing all white, sprinted on to the field led by Co-Captain's Sam Hebert and Russell Harmening.
Harmening, the two time Citrus-West pitcher of the year and easily the greatest pitcher in Calvary's history, got the start and instantly settled in, striking out the side in the first.
Calvary failed to score in the bottom half but when the second inning rolled around, Calvary started playing like "business as usual". Harmening held the Redhawks scoreless in the second, striking out two more. In their half of the inning, they took the lead by scoring two runs when senior centerfielder Sam Sheehan drew a walk and senior Isaac Conover followed with a soft single to right putting runners on first and second. With two outs, sophomore lefty Alex Nurding smoked a liner to right for a single that was misplayed by the rightfielder who allowed the ball to get by him. Sheehan scored on the hit and Conover came all the way around to score on the error giving the Lions a quick 2-0 edge.
Harmening once again struck out the side in the third inning, mixing in a deadly curveball with a 88-92 MPH fastball. In their half of the third, Calvary busted the game wide open and scored 4 runs. Sophomore leadoff hitter David Carpenter got the ball rolling when he reached on an infield single and advanced to second when the shortstop overthrew first base. Calvary's closest shot at a home run came when the next hitter, Caleb Whitley stepped up and launched a ball that ended up hooking foul near the Western Metal Building. He was later retired but sophomore Matt Hartman, the team's leading hitter, picked him up by lining a bullet to center scoring Carpenter. Harmening helped himself out by lining a hard single to left putting runners at first and second for Sheehan who stepped up and made it a tri-fecta, lining the third single in-a-row, this one scored Hartman and moved Harmening to third. Harmening scored when, with Sheehan stealing second, the catcher attempted to pick him off third but the the throw got away from the third baseman allowing Harmening to score on the error. Sheehan then stole third and scored when Nurding reached on an infield error. When the dust cleared, Calvary held a commanding 6-0 lead with their ace on the mound.
Harmening continued his mastery as he shutout the Redhawk offense allowing only two groundball singles and striking out 12 in only 5 innings of work. Only three batters put the ball in play, the remainder struck out.
In a normal game, the Lions would have left Harmening, who had thrown only 70 pitches and was clearly dominating every opposing hitter, in the game, along with the other starters. But with a 6-0 lead and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play on a Major League field, the Calvary coaches made every effort to get all 20 of their players into the game. With the majority of the starting 9 out of the lineup things got real interesting, real fast.
With senior righthander Brock Bentley on the mound to start the sixth inning, three consecutive infield errors to the first three batters of the inning allowed Mt. Empire to break into the scoring column making it 6-1. Nervousness set in with the young infielders and mental mistakes started piling onto the physical mistakes. With runners on first and third, Whitley easily gunned down a runner attempting to steal second, but the confused infielders failed to tag the runner. The Calvary defense had now given the Redhawks 4 extra outs and they were set on making the the Lions pay for the miscues. A groundout scored their second run and a groundball single through the 5.5 hole brought in their third. The Redhawks added insult to injury by getting their first hard hit of the day, a run-scoring double down the left field line. With the score now an uncomfortable 6-4 and a runner at third, Bentley stopped the madness by getting a big strikeout to end the inning. Although Bentley was charged with 4 runs, none earned, he pitched very well. If the Lion's had played errorless defense behind him, he would have retired the side on only 7 pitches.
Hanging on to the 6-4 lead, going into the last inning, Calvary's starters re-entered the game with Sheehan on the mound looking for a save. The hard throwing Sheehan got behind on the first hitter and the umpire's strike zone seemed to shrink as he walked the leadoff hitter, barely missing on two pitches that appeared to be strikes. The Redhawks, to Calvary's delight, gave up an out by bunting the runner to second. A groundball back to the pitcher made it two outs but the Redhawks best hitter, Daniel Hoyos, lined a sharp single to left scoring the runner and making it a 1-run game at 6-5.
As the tying run at first and with an 0-1 count on the following hitter, Hoyos attempted to advance into scoring position and took off for second on the next pitch. He got an excellent jump on the pitcher and it initially appeared that he had second base easily stolen. But junior catcher Whitley wouldn't have it. He anticipated the challenge and threw a rocket to second where Connor Kollenda slapped down the tag for the final out of the game. The throw to second, timed at a Major League level of 1.84 seconds was the 17th runner Whitley has thrown out this season, but none were nearly as important as the final out of this game.
The excited crowd and players celebrated the win and mingled around afterward completing one of the most memorable days in the history of Calvary athletics.
The win puts Calvary's record at 17-5. They have a busy schedule next week with a JV game on Monday and 3 more varsity games later in the week. They face Lincoln High School on Tuesday, followed by league games vs. Lutheran and Ocean View on Wednesday and Friday respectively.
