By Bruce Karnick

[email protected]

The saying, “God works in mysterious ways” comes to mind regarding how this story and subsequent connections came in to play. It was Tuesday afternoon, and I had my afternoon planned out. I was going to take pictures of boys’ golf at the Hastings Golf Club, then run out and get pictures of the girls’ golf team at Hidden Greens and start writing stories. Maybe relax a little in the evening. St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton (SEAS) baseball was not on my radar, but it was about to be!

The announcement came over the radio and TV, the jury in the Chauvin case had reached a verdict that was going to be announced between 3:30 and 4:00. I grabbed my wireless earphones and made my way to HGC.

Upon my arrival, there was no school bus in the lot. Strange for a 3:00 start and it was 3:10. As I am walking to the clubhouse, I see the pile of Raider bags by the practice green and a couple of the Raider boys walking in. I introduce myself to them and they explained that all Metro East Conference competitions were called off for the day pending the outcome of the jury’s decision.

Athletic Director Trent Hanson confirmed, the MEC AD’s met and decided to cancel all activities just in case the area highways get shut down like they did during the riots previously. The Hastings Girls Softball team was just pulling into the parking lot at North High when they were directed to return home.

Well, now what? I guess I’ll go get gas and go home early. As I was driving down 15th, I hit Pine Street and saw activity at Pioneer Parks Baseball field, so I stop. St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton’s baseball team is warming up. Now I know what I am supposed to do, these athletes deserve coverage, too!

Their opponent was St. Charles Borromeo (SCB). This level of baseball for smaller parochial schools has kids as young as 11 and as old as 14. For this game, SEAS was only had eight players, and they were ok with that. SEAS started eight grader Matt Sherry on the mound and Jon Harris behind the plate. Both Sherry and Harris provide a veteran leadership to the team. Sherry faced 13 batters in four scoreless innings for SEAS, striking out 11. Harris relieved Sherry and also pitched well.

The SEAS offense played a big role in alleviating the fact that they only had eight players by jumping out to an early lead. The final of the game was SEAS 5, SCB 2.

Wednesday, SEAS travelled to St. Paul Academy/Summit School. Harris got the start facing nine, striking out six in two scoreless innings. Sixth grader Tommy Peterson came in to relieve Harris, pitching the final four innings facing 14 batters. The SEAS offense was once again the star of the show logging eight runs, including a solo homerun by Sherry, giving them their second straight win, 8-2.

Some advantages the SEAS team has is playing at Pioneer Park, right in the middle of town. There is plenty of room to spread out, get outdoors and watch kids having a good time playing baseball.

Its interesting how the universe works. The disappointment of losing the afternoon of photographs and stories turned into a better story for the day and as a baseball fan, it was wonderful watching these kids play.