By Ed Piper
La Jolla head baseball coach Gary Frank told a story at the team banquet Sat., May 30, that had him dabbing his eyes in emotion.
Luke Cripe, a junior, had had a good offseason preparing and was ready to play in the outfield on the varsity.
In the second game of the season, "Luke was all set to play left field," related Frank. He had had some back issues. Gary said, "We realized that Luke wasn't going to tell us" each time it was an issue.
He was inserted in the lineup, but right before his at-bat, he told the coaches his back was feeling a little tight. Frank had to substitute for him. "I figured he would go home and put some ice on it," to take care of it.
Instead, "Luke propped himself against a wall in the dugout, to get comfortable, and spent the rest of the game involved and cheering on his teammates."
It was, obviously, an occasion that Frank would not forget, and he related that at the breakfast, as individual team members were recognized.
So, even though Luke didn't come back from the injury to play left field every game and pile up statistics, he was still a valuable member of the team. That was the upshot.
No comments:
Post a Comment