Baseball: Virus ruins Opening Day at North Ridgeville field

Today was going to be cause for celebration for the North Ridgeville baseball program. The Rangers were set to christen their new field, complete with a turf infield and concrete dugouts, with a non-league game against Elyria Catholic. However, like every other sporting event and social gathering during the coronavirus pandemic, the party has been put on hold indefinitely. "We've been told for the last three years we were getting this new field," senior pitcher/first baseman Aiden Matta said. "This year, it's finally ready. It felt amazing to be able to practice on it and then all of this comes around." North Ridgeville coach Matt Ponting said the new field has actually been in the works for five years, part of a project that also saw North Ridgeville get a new football stadium and softball field. "We've had planning committees, meetings with builders, some of our parents and our athletic directors have all been involved in the process," Ponting said. "We were suppose to play on it last year, but the weather didn't cooperate." North Ridgeville will be the only school in Lorain County to have a facility on campus with a turf infield. The Rangers were scheduled to host 17 games, including all of it's non-league games. Five of those games have already been lost due to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine's current school closure and stay-at-home orders. Right now the seniors are just holding out hope for an abbreviated season. "If we can play 10 games, even five games or maybe just a tournament on that field, it would give us something," senior third baseman Zach Cabell said. "I've been praying to God that we can play. I know it would be a blessing if we have a season. If we can't, I'll be upset, but I'll just keep training because I also want to play baseball in college." Senior designated hitter Ty Quintana said playing on the new field is something the Class of 2020 has been looking forward to their entire high school careers. "Playing baseball here when I was a freshman, I was excited when I heard we were getting a new field," he said. "Then, as senior year got here and we saw the new field and got to practice on it, the environment was so great. We were so proud to know that was our home field. It's so unfortunate all of this had to happen." On March 13, the day DeWine ordered Ohio's K-12 schools shut for a minimum of three weeks, the Rangers were putting on their uniforms and getting ready to take the field for picture day. Now they are left to wonder if it will be the final time they get to wear those uniforms. "This is what you work your whole life for to play baseball your senior year," Matta said. "We had heard about the virus. We knew things were getting shut down, but things got out of hand so quickly. I think, right now, we're all in shock." Whenever North Ridgeville finally gets the opportunity to play ball, Ponting expects it to provide a boost to a Rangers program that has struggled in recent years. "It's going to be amazing for the entire community," he said. "For most of my eight years here, we had one of the worst facilities in the area. Now we may have the best. It's going to give our kids pride when other schools come to play and we can show off a great facility." Quintana is still holding out hope he'll get finish his senior year by getting the chance to play baseball with the kids he's grown up with. "I've been playing baseball since I was eight years old, baseball is the love of my life," Quintana said. "I love baseball so much because I am part of a team. We had something super big to look forward to this year and it would mean so much to get just a couple games together on our new field." Contact Todd Shapiro at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.