Raytown South Baseball

Our neighbors have two boys in high school and about a month ago I saw them taking batting practice in the front yard with some training gizmo designed to fit on a pole. Since we hadn't ever really introduced ourselves (nor had they, but we have to take some of the blame), I walked over and asked if they were ballplayers. Judging from the baseball bat in their hands, I knew they were, but I had to break the ice somehow. I discovered they played varsity for the local high school, and so I asked for a schedule. The next night they dropped one off.

When the next home game came around, we drove to the high school, but no one was there. We asked some of the kids still lingering around the building if the team played its home games at the school, or at some other location. They had no idea. I knew they wouldn't. Having played high school baseball, I was well aware that unlike high school football, and basketball, normal students don't really support the baseball team. The only kids that would know where the team plays are either really, really, really good friends of a player on the team, or the girlfriend of a player on the team, and in both cases, they would probably be at the game, and not waiting around for a ride after school. Besides those two groups of peers, the only other fans at the games are family. Sure, there's the occasional baseball junkie like me, but we are few in number.

After not really getting an answer from the kids at the school, we went home. I stopped to ask the neighbors and they let me know that the schedule was wrong and the game was actually an away game. But, a week later we were able to see them play. It was a little cold for a game at the end of April, and the wind only made it worse. I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only were our neighbors on the varsity team, but they both started and both played pretty well. They finished the game early winning by 10 runs. I wasn't sure if they were really good, or if the other team was really bad.

We attended another game two weeks later. Our neighbors' team lost that game 1-0. They had chances to tie or win in both the 6th and final innings, but didn't take advantage. The next day I found the high school baseball standings online, and it turns out, the only team worse than they are is the team they demolished the first time we attended.

Most state high school baseball playoffs are coming up soon. Find some time to get out and cheer on your alma mater, or, if your alma mater is too far away, find out when the local high school plays and get out to the ballpark. The game might not be played as fast or be as smooth as it is at the professional level, but the struggle is the same, the moments just as tense, the defeats just as bitter, and the victories just as sweet -- maybe even sweeter.