James Anderson - High School Sports Unites a Community

HIGH SCHOOL
SP O RTS UNITES A
COMMUNITY

Written by

JAMES ANDERSON

2021 James Anderson. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-6655-4109-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-4108-4 (e)

Published by AuthorHouse 10/18/2021

Contents

One of the great benefits of high school sports is how it can unify a community who is in support of its youth by attending games, and cheering the team on to victory. Such was the case for the Oakwood Academy Stingers of 2021. The Stingers had created a reputation of excellence under the leadership of their head man The Skipper Fred Apt and his right hand man Assistant Chris Dutton, who is called affectionately Duttie by his friends at his request. Brilie Walker and Makenzie Buzzell also coach the Stingers.

There had been a world wide pandemic that took many lives. Everyone was wearing face masks and keeping a social distance of six feet. The community had to spend a great deal of time in quarentine. Football season had to be cancelled, and winter sports was played without fans in the stands. With vaccinations to the disease everyone was anxious for spring sports to begin. As is the case in Maine, outdoor weather in the spring is slow to arrive. Therefore the Baseball and Softball teams began practice indoors. Oakwood Academy has a beautiful indoor facility with a batting cage and room for pitchers and catchers to throw and catch. The softball team had played excellent ball the year previous but they were hurt by graduation. None the less, The Skipper had a great track record of player development. The team had been hurt by the pandemic the previous year when the season had to be shut down early at the Principles Associations request. Coaches did not know how to piece together line-ups until they could get out on the field in the spring. Of course every team in Maine was in the same pickle until the snow melted off the fields. Early season game victories would figure in large when it came to end of the season playoffs.

PITCHERRing My Bell

CATCHER...Carrie Nails Barry

FIRST BASE.Josie Wales

SECOND BASE...Judy JJ Johnson

THIRD BASE..Betsy Walker

SHORT STOP..Ruby Beans

RIGHT FIELD.Kimberly Johnson

CENTER FIELD.Andrea Watson

LEFT FIELD...Debbie Sanders

UTILITY. Wendy Peppercorn

THE STINGERS BEGIN THEIR
SEASON ON THE ROAD

In anticipation of a new season the Stingers opener would be postponed due to snow. Everyone would have to wait a week for the opener. Unfortunately, the snow meant the practice field would not be ready until the snow melted.

FINALLY THE STINGERS START
THEIR SEASON AT BIRCHWOOD

The time had finally come for the season to begin. The Stingers traveled to Birchwood to play one week late. No one knew what to expect; only that Birchwood had a strong reputation of excellence in the past. Pitcher Ring My Bell was anxious to begin the season and dominated the game. In the circle Ring My was right on the corners with her pitches. She got ahead of hitters on her way to striking out 17 Birches. This limited Birchwood in their attempt to score. In fact Ring Mys control limited the Birches to only one runner reaching as far as third. Meanwhile, the Stingers bats remained silent as well. That is until the sixth inning when Judy Johnson walked, followed by a Kimberly Johnson walk bringing up up Ring My with a chance to knock in two with a base hit. With two outs and a two ball two strike count the Birches pitcher went for the strikeout with a high and outside riseball. But the left-handed Bell was ready for this pitch. Ring My lined a sharp hit right down the left field foul line. It would be a triple, with the two baserunners scoring easily on the hit. The Skipper had been encouraging his players to go to the opposite field on the outside pitch and that was just the advice that provided the game winning hit. In looking back, it was a pitchers mistake to try throwing a high outside pitch past Ring My Bell. It had as much of a chance of working as a farmer trying to slip sunrise past his best rooster. It was a 2-0 win for the Stingers thanks to their Senior pitcher. The Stingers had their cross town rival Maplewood up next at home where the home town crowd would get their first look at this years edition of the Oakwood Softball nine. The team would then travel to Maplewood the following week to complete the home and home mini-series.

The Maplewood Monks came to Oakwood off an opening game loss to the Pine Tree Cones. This early in the season however it was hard to tell if one team had the edge over the other, so the Oakwood skipper pumped up the fact that the Maplewood team was a neighboring town rival, and this was a bragging rights game. It worked as the Stingers would win once again by a 2-0 final. The importance of this win would not be known until the regular season ended. One thing would become known, which was that the community would be at home games in support of the Oakwood team. The look at the field was a different look because of the pandemic. No one would be allowed to spectate from behind the chain-link fence, around home plate, and everyone must wear a mask. The parents, grandparents, and locals would settle behind the home run fence beyond left field. Opponents fans would be directed to the same space beyond the right field home run barrier. Every home game fans seemed to return to the same spots for spectating. You could see the field from your car from behind the chain link fence in both left and right field. Some fans chose to watch from their cars. Especially if it was cold, or buggy. After all it was black fly season in Maine. It was a good deal for handicapped folks or the elderly.

At the Maplewood game Ring My stepped into the circle with confidence once again striking out 13 batters with 0 hits, while walking 0. The Stingers bats were silent except for catcher Nails Barry who with one swing of the bat accounted for the Stingers two runs. The Skipper was not surprised by the lack of hitting, because hitting against live pitching which would allow for instruction and added experience, was not possible until the Stingers could practice outside. Nailss home run in the bottom of the fifth was a total surprise. Nails was an athlete who just had a way of figuring things out. She had hit the ball hard to left but her first home run was much more of a power blast. She caught on to working the count in her favor, then looked for the meatball, because the pitcher had to throw a strike. The Skipper loved coaching Nailsbecause she listened and internalized his information. Her home run traveled right into the rooters section of the home town crowd. Nailss father in fact retrieved the ball, and was saving it to give to her at home that night. After the game the Stingers would begin looking forward to the rematch at Maplewood the following Wednesday.