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Everett ball player glad to be on the diamond

August 28, 2020   ·   0 Comments

The baseball diamond at the Tottenham Community Centre is getting some good use this summer, even if most of the teams calling it home are from out of town.

Several local players are on the roster with Aurora rep teams who come to Tottenham to play their schedule.

The squads have had a lot of inter-club games but are now playing a regular schedule with three other teams in their loop.

Aurora Titans U16 back catcher Reese Irvin, who lives in Everett, helped his team to a 9 – 3 win over the Kingston Canadians in the second game of their double header on Sunday, August 23.

His usual position is back catcher, but Reese is a real utility player who also pitches and sometimes takes second base.

In Sunday’s game, Reese hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning then went on the mound and pitched the rest of the game for the win.

“It’s really fun,” Reese said of getting out on the ball diamond. “There’s really nothing else we can do right now. Usually we’re away on Saturdays and play at home on Sunday.”

The team plays a big loop going up against teams from Kingston, Clarington, and Mississauga.

“I don’t really feel anything different – you just have to be mindful of the social distancing,” Reese said of playing with the COVID-19 restrictions in place. “There’s one umpire on the bases and he calls the foul balls and base plays, and the other umpire calls the strikes and balls from behind the mound. Sometimes it’s not as consistent,” he said of having the ump call the ball across home plate from behind the pitcher’s mound.

The Titans came up short and took a loss in the first game of the day but rebounded for a win in the second outing.

“In the first game we made a lot of errors,” Reese said. “In the second game we tried to do the little things right instead of making the big plays.”

The team never really stopped playing. They were still practicing in small groups in an indoor training facility when the baseballs season was suspended.

The League season will be extended this year going longer into the than normal.

By Brian Lockhart

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