Eddie Gonzalez, playing for the Langley Alumni team, bats against the Langley varsity Sunday, June 2. Gonzalez hit a two-run home run in the alumni team’s 11-2 win. Photo by Alex McVeigh.
The Langley High School varsity baseball team squared off against its past self Sunday, June 2 at Nike Field, as the current team took on a team made up of alumni for the second straight year.
Last year’s game ended in a 10-9 victory for the alumni, meaning this year’s varsity team was out for revenge. At least the ones who were still on the varsity team.
"We didn’t like losing last year, so I know the varsity will be fired up," said David Paul, who graduated from Langley last year and played for the alumni this year. "It’s sort of fun to play against Langley varsity for once."
This year’s game started out close, with the alumni scoring the first two runs, only to see the varsity tie it up in the bottom of the second, with Bryan Even and Nick Casso scoring runs.
The alumni scored another run in the top of the third, then blew the game wide open in the fourth, with Eddie Gonzalez hitting a two-run home run.
After being taunted with "Bet you’d really like to hit a home run!" by the Langley varsity, Colin Cantwell, who graduated last year, responded by doing just that, hitting a three-run home run to put the alumni up 8-2. The alumni tacked on another three runs in the fifth, and the varsity’s bats never woke up. They lost in seven innings.
Though the game was cut short by rain, the oldest alumni on the field took to the plate for the final at bat. Vic Price, one of the teams’ current coaches and 1969 Langley graduate, was the final batter of the game, before the incoming rain caused the game to be called off.
The teams did gather for a brief post-game ritual, where the senior members of the Langley varsity team "crossed over" to the alumni side. Six of the 12 members of the varsity team that played Sunday were seniors.
"We call it ‘passing the green hat’ as these seniors now officially join the alumni side for the future," Price said. "There are six left on the varsity side that will be coming back next year, and hopefully they’re joined by eight, 10, 12 of their fellow players and come back next year ready to avenge today’s loss."
Next year’s game will take place the first weekend of June.