Matt Levins - The Hawk Eye
Matt Levins - The Hawk Eye
ST. LOUIS — As Landry Haberichter stepped onto the field at Busch Stadium late Sunday afternoon, the Notre Dame High School junior was taken aback.
Haberichter, a diehard Chicago White Sox fan, had just watched the St. Louis Cardinals play the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on the very same field just an hour previous.
The magnitude of the moment struck Haberichter like a ton of bricks. He was sitting in the same dugout where Dodgers great Shohei Ohtani had occupied the previous four hours. He was on the same field where Freddie Freeman just played. He was in the on-deck circle where Mookie Betts had been standing earlier in the day.
As he took his position in center field, Haberichter was standing in the same place the Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim and the Cardinals’ Jose Barrero had been patrolling during the Dodgers’ 7-3 victory.
Such was the case for all the Nikes’ players and coaches during an exhibition game against Williamsburg.
It was the thrill of a lifetime for all. And most likely the only opportunity they will get to play on a Major League Baseball field.
It was a day none will ever forget.
“Just looking around at all the surroundings, it was a very surreal moment,” Haberichter said. “It was so awesome. It’s not like any other field I’ve played at. The field is just amazing. I was talking to my teammates. It’s like a golf green out there. The turf is so well managed. It’s awesome. The scenery, the Arch, all the surrounding buildings, it’s just beautiful.”
“It was fun. It gave me a good feeling. I’d love to do it again,” said Notre Dame eighth grader Gavin Boelens.
Notre Dame coach Chris Chiprez took every member of the team to the game. And he made sure every single player got into the game, got a chance to experience something most kids can only dream about.
“That was my goal — to make sure I played everybody. I made two starting lineups. I had a timeline that I followed,” Chiprez said.
Chiprez made sure every single coach on his staff got a chance to be in either the first base or third base coaching box at least once during the nine-inning game.
“I told the coaches you are part of the program. You’ve helped build this into what it is. You guys all deserve a chance to get out there and coach,” Chiprez said. “That was my other goal was to get all of them out there.”
Payne Prottman got the start on the mound for Notre Dame. He was standing in the same spot Dodgers’ great Clayton Kershaw had pitched his team to victory earlier in the day.
Haberichter got the thrill of a lifetime, making a diving catch of a hard-hit, sinking liner off the bat of Williamsburg’s Nile Sinn.
“That was really fun,” Haberichter said. “Off the bat I was like, ‘Oh. I don’t know if I’m going to get to this one.’ I realized I can track this down. I slid In the back of my mind I thought if I don’t get this its going to roll all the way back because it’s a fast outfield. It was really fun. I’m never going to forget that. It’s going to be with me the rest of my life.”
As Haberichter’s parents, Kenton and Leah, looked on, they barely could hold back their emotions. They have traveled the country watching Major League games.
Now, they were watching their son do something they never in their wildest dreams thought would come true.
“This is fantastic,” Kenton Haberichter said. “He’s been looking forward to it for quite a while. I know it’s been marked on the calendar for a long time. He’s definitely ready for it and excited to come down. They’ve really done a nice with these kids giving them a chance to come down here and experience this. These will be lifetime memories.”
“It’s pretty awesome,” Leah Haberichter said. “He’s always been competitive. He just works so hard. We are all extremely blessed to be on this journey. It’s really cool to see all these kids out here getting a chance to play just a few hours from home. This will probably be the only chance of their lives to do something like this.”
While Williamsburg won the contest, 5-2 — it was an exhibition game that does not count on either team’s record — this game had nothing to do with winning and losing. This game — and weekend — was about making memories to last a lifetime.
“It didn’t really hit me until I went down there,” Landry Haberichter said. “I was expecting to play down there, but I didn’t realize how big of a deal this was to get to play here. I am really grateful for it. All the hard work the parents and coaches put in for this for us to come down here and do something we’ve always dream of is awesome.”
“Memories were made,” Chiprez said. “Win or lose, it doesn’t matter. What you did on the field doesn’t matter. Just being able to come down here as a Notre Dame team and be able to play and compete with your brothers on a Big League field. You can’t get any better than that.”