Ferrum baseball gives seniors last-minute last hurrah
FERRUM, Va. (BVM) — The season wasn’t supposed to go this way for the Ferrum College baseball team, an NCAA Division III program. The Panthers had just come off of a weekend sweep of East Mennonite and were preparing for a pair of games against Bridgewater on the weekend of March 14. However, these games were not going to happen.
On March 12, the team learned that Bridgewater canceled their athletic events for the rest of the school year. That day, the NCAA would also cancel its winter and spring sports championships. In response, Ferrum that day announced it would suspend its spring games and practices beginning March 16. The whole season had changed, but that wouldn’t be the end of it.
Panthers head coach Ryan Brittle told the team of the news, which was received with disappointment of the players. Brittle though had one suggestion to help alleviate the pain felt by the players. One final game, an intersquad scrimmage, that would put the Panthers’ nine seniors against the rest of the team. A senior send-off.
The team scheduled the game, known as the “Ferrum All-Star Game: Seniors vs. Rookies,” for March 14 and players made as many last-second plans as they could to get parents to come watch their final moments in a Panthers jersey. However, the crisis again threw a wrench in the plan as the team’s conference, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, announced it would suspend games beginning March 14. The team, determined to give their seniors a game to remember, moved the scrimmage to the night of March 13.
Before the game, eight of the team’s nine seniors were honored on the field (senior pitcher Colby Grissom did not attend as he went home early because he couldn’t participate due to an injury). The seniors, represented in the Panthers’ gold jerseys as the rest of the team wore black, were led one-by-one to the field through a tunnel of players.
Seniors Tim Ortega, Parker Mason, Grey Sherfey, Christian Campbell, Cory Peel, Greg White, Drew Calohan and Kyle Anstice were recognized before the game. The seniors made their way to the field through a sea of high-fives before reaching the coaching staff where they each shook hands and hugged their coaches and received a jersey to commemorate the night. After each received their jerseys, there was a moment for the seniors to have their photos taken.
Team manager Mitch Everett, who was clearly struck with emotions, said during the team’s streamed broadcast, “I’m a little lost for words. It’s very moving, it’s very hard to see them go even after the way the season ended up.”
When play started, it was all fun and games for the seniors. The game had just about everything from a perfectly executed hidden ball trick to a walk-off balk. The seniors would win the game with a final score of 5-4. When the game ended, the team came together on the field for one final time during the
2020 season and many pictures were taken and hugs exchanged. Although the night was over, the impact of the game was not.
On March 16, ESPN host Scott Van Pelt included a picture of the seniors in the lead-up to his segment known as #SeniorNight. Although Van Pelt didn’t mention anything about the team or the game himself, ESPN on March 21 showed over a minute of the game including the hidden ball trick and the senior ceremony. Another unique twist to an already special moment.
ESPN also aired a clip of an interview with Mason discussing his feelings after the game.
“Friday night just showed me to take everything in. Don’t take anything for granted,” Mason said in the interview. “All the people around you, everybody you love. You love your teammates. Practice as hard as you can. All those long days, you never know when it’s going to come to an end.”
On March 20, the ODAC canceled all its activities for the rest of the school year and Ferrum followed suit, canceling all of its athletic competitions for the rest of the school year. The Panthers finished the season 11-5, but for the seniors one win will stand above the rest.
