Column: Baseball gives Blacksburg a sense of normalcy
Clark Ruhland, CT Associate Sports Editor
April 21, 2007
Friday night Virginia Tech head baseball coach Pete Hughes continued to answer question after question.
His team had just lost, but as he looked over into the dugout, he spotted his eldest son beginning to cry. The young batboy ran to his father's arms.
"It's OK, buddy. It's OK," Hughes said as he held his son in his arms. "If Warren would have spent one day in the weight room..."
Hughes' young son wasn't crying because the Hokies had just lost; he was crying because of how the Hokies lost.
Down by two in the bottom of the ninth inning with a man on, Tech senior shortstop Warren Schaeffer lifted a moon-shot to the leftfield wall, only to be robbed over the wall from Miami's Mark Sobolewski. For one brief moment, Hokie fans had a chance to celebrate. That celebration was pulled away, and the Hokies lost 11-9.
"I can't believe that on a day like today they bring the ball back," Schaeffer said. "It's unbelievable. Just unbelievable. I knew he was going to bring it back, because that always happens to me."
Once the ball was brought back and the game was over, the team walked out together and surrounded Hughes before turning to the record crowd and raising their hats.
But before the game even started, fans and all Hokies alike made English Field home. Over 3,000 fans showed up for a chance to begin to heal from Monday's tragedy that happened a mere half-mile from the field. The weight of the world rested on senior pitcher Adam Redd's shoulders as he started the game.
"Once you get out on this field, there's a totally different atmosphere," Redd said. "That first pitch was pretty tough. I thought it was a strike too, but he called it a ball."
Maybe it was a blown call, and maybe a couple of more inches could have meant a Hokie victory, but the season will go on. Saturday is game two of the three-game series, meaning the Hokies have to pick up the pieces before the game at 5 p.m. "We're going to do what we always do," Huhges said. "We're going to come here, work and have a great batting practice. They're going to feel bad tonight, but that's what feeling normal again means."
Normal was not Friday night. The game of baseball meant so much more than the runs, hits and errors. Bringing the community together for one night shed many tears.
More than just the bat boy.