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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Fielder's Feat Was Intelligent, Impressive

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      I hadn't seen anything like it since a T-ball game at Moriarty's sports complex back on June 19, 2004.
    Raeanna VanDemark, then a preschooler, scurried around the infield for coach Karl Ehl's co-ed Thunder squad. She fielded nearly every ball hit off the tee from her defensive position on the pitcher's mound and outraced batters to first base instead of throwing the ball for the out.
    VanDemark would then run to capture any unwary base runners, who happened to be off the bag, in the same play.
    VanDemark's efforts as a 5-year-old came to mind when East Mountain Little League third-baseman Stephen Wade got a solo double play during his team's victory over a joint Mile High/Thunderbird team in the District 5 juniors-division all-stars baseball tournament at Manzano Mesa Park in Albuquerque on July 10.
    The most exciting play — it also made one chuckle — of the 13- and 14-year-old competition came in the bottom of the sixth inning.
    Wade, with one out and two runners on base, tagged Mile High/Thunderbird's Evan Ledon after receiving an on-target pick-off throw from catcher Brian Wade, Stephen's twin brother, as Ledon tried to steal third. Stephen Wade then sped across the diamond to run down Lucas Lantz, who was caught between first and second, for a double play that maintained EMLL's 10-5 advantage.
    "I tagged the one guy out at third base," said Stephen Wade, who is a Sandia Prep eighth-grader-to-be from Cedar Crest. "My coach always tells us to run at the runner until someone calls for it, and no one called for the ball — so I just chased (Lantz) down."
    Wade blushed a bit when I told him it reminded me of that T-ball game four years ago. I should have emphasized that, though humorous, it was a great hustle play on his part and could very well have avoided an error if he had thrown the ball without someone being ready for it.
    The bottom line is Wade made an intelligent decision. And it worked.
    My memory of the T-ball game was aided by a couple of chance encounters with VanDemark, now 9 and a Route 66 Elementary rising fourth-grader. She played in EMLL with her minors-division softball team, the Wildcats, this year.
    Then her parents, Brian and Betty, and I attended a recent gathering at a mutual friend's home in Moriarty, and Raeanna readily agreed to take me one-on-one on a driveway basketball court.
    The still feisty VanDemark, with some good dribbling skills, took me to the hole and quickly took a 5-0 lead despite my raised arms on defense. She was getting close to beating her elderly opponent before he, in an unsportsmanlike move, began to use his height — and weight — advantage.
    Or was it that she let me win?
    Harold Smith can be reached by phone at 823-7104 or by e-mail at hsmith@mvtelegraph.com.>   

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