Keeping a Great Start in Perspective

You couldn't have scripted a better story for Opening Day of the 2007 baseball season for St. Mary's.

On this beautiful March afternoon at the ballpark, we had our newly-appointed team captain and staff ace Sam Few on the mound shutting down a talented Augusta Christian team. We had our lineup swinging the bats and generating runs, we had a defense taking care of business, and we had players executing in important spots in the ballgame. After more than six weeks of hard work in the preseason, everything came together Monday afternoon, as St. Mary's opened with an 11-0 win.

But then, everything we had done on the field that day was put into a whole new perspective in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Sam Few did what he's done tens of thousands of times in his life: swung a baseball bat. But this time, something went wrong. When Few hit a high fly ball to right field in the fourth, everyone looked up to watch the baseball. But when we didn't see him running, and we looked down and saw him collapsed in the batter's box in obvious pain, everyone at the ballpark held their breath. Some of us felt sick to our stomachs.

Suddenly, it didn't seem to matter that St. Mary's was winning the ballgame big at that point, about to put up victory No. 1 of the season.

We all feared the worse, that Sam had suffered a torn ACL and would be done for the season. Or worse, that the promising athletic career of this awesome young man was now in jeopardy.

A few hours later, the news was much better than we thought. Sam's dad, Trey, took him to the best "knee guy" in town, Dr. Jewell Duncan at Sports Medicine Associates of Augusta. Turns out Sam only suffered a dislocated patella (kneecap). ONLY a dislocated kneecap. I know, this doesn't sound good, but it actually is great news for Sam. It is minor, compared to a torn ACL. As long as there are no ligament or cartilage tears, Sam will begin rehabbing his knee as early as Wednesday, and could be back on the field in 2-3 weeks.

For selfish reasons, we all want Sam back in a Saints uniform as soon as possible. He is our captain, and we clearly are not the same team without him.

But losing our captain yesterday also was a prime example of what our team is all about in 2007 — BIG TEAM LITTLE ME.

After the game, we prayed for Sam, and then talked about the task ahead of us. We may have lost a very important piece to the puzzle Monday. But the team is bigger than one player. The team as a whole will determine our fate on the field in 2007, not 15 individual players.

Again, I'll quote coach Herb Brooks from Miracle: "The name on the front of the jersey is a heck of a lot more important than the one on the back." — To me, this is exactly what BIG TEAM LITTLE ME is all about.

And Monday, we showed BIG TEAM LITTLE ME on the field. We got contributions from many different players yesterday. Sam Few pitched the best game of his middle school career, allowing only one hit with 10 strikeouts in four innings. Palmer Douglas came on in relief in the fifth inning and struck out the side. Tyler Williamson broke out of his mini preseason slump to go 2-for-3 with three RBI, steal two bases, and score two runs. Carson Simmons and Jeremiah Schaeffer each had two-hit games. Brendan Douglas, Bradley Miller and Collin Oliver each had a hit. Nine of the 10 players in our lineup reached base at least once by hit or walk. Nine different players scored a run. And, our defense was solid, while we executed to near perfection on the basepaths, with Ben Agee and Denis Douglas executing a delayed double steal to perfection in the third inning to steal us a run.

But we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Today comes the next big test, and it is huge one as we take on Tutt Middle School — a program that hasn't lost a game in four years. Though this is a non-league game, it is a game that we all want. It is a game for West Augusta bragging rights. And it will tell each and every one of us a lot about the heart and character of this ballclub.