By John Szymendera ’16
The bus was silent as the St. Christopher’s varsity baseball team pulled out of the Shepherd Stadium parking lot and began the 45-minute ride back to campus in the darkness of a mid-May evening in 2019.
The high school careers of seven seniors ended that night. The careers of three juniors ended as well. They did not even touch the field, but their minds were already set on revenge and an opportunity to prove themselves. Little did they know, they would never get the chance. They would never get their opportunity to play in a championship game for their school. They would barely even get a chance to play the sport one last time.
For Rollins Thompson ’20, Brian Bell ’20, and Ben Jones ’20, their junior varsity season was uneventful. In their first season on the team, the trio joined a roster that returned seven juniors and several talented freshmen from the previous season on a mission to defend their 2018 state championship. With talent both above and below, Thompson, Bell and Jones fell down the depth chart. They spent the 2019 season in the dugout, watching as the team worked their way back to the level of a state championship contender. The trio amassed 12 total plate appearances, only playing in the final innings of blowout victories.
While their own seasons were somewhat lackluster, the team was playing well. The Saints entered the 2019 VISAA state tournament as the No. 2 seed before making a run to their third state championship game in three years.
In the championship game, Thompson, Bell, and Jones watched from the dugout as St. Christopher’s third run crossed the plate in the top of the third inning, pulling the Saints ahead 3-0. They looked on as the Benedictine Cadets stormed back with four runs in the next two innings, taking their first lead of the game. They watched as the final out was recorded on a groundout straight to the pitcher, the Cadets rushing the infield to celebrate their 7-4 victory. “No one really thought we were going to get that far, to play them that close, but when it came down to it, and we lost, it was hard because all the seniors were crying,” said Bell. “On the bus ride home, it was a long ride. It was quiet and somber. There wasn’t anything to be happy about.”
Brian Bell '20
Ten months removed from that long bus ride home, with the air beginning to warm and the trees beginning to bloom, baseball was back for the 2020 season with renewed goals for a fresh and final season for Thompson, Bell and Jones.
All three started baseball at a very young age. For Bell, playing tee ball is one of his earliest memories. Thompson and Jones recalled playing with and against each other throughout their early years in Little League. “Immediately I just had a love for the game,” said Jones. “When I was a kid I played lacrosse and baseball. [My parents] wanted us to end up picking one, because they were tired of the constant back and forth between each sport. I ended up picking baseball and wouldn’t say I regret the decision at all.”
Ben Jones ’20
In Middle School the three were teammates on the seventh grade St. Christopher’s baseball team. They have played together ever since. Ninth grade marked their first year on junior varsity, and the following year all three failed to make varsity and returned for another year at the lower level.
After watching St. Christopher’s win the 2018 state championship while on JV and suffering defeat in the title game in 2019 in their first year on varsity, they were ready to fight for a spot in the lineup and begin the 2020 redemption journey this spring. “We’d all been working throughout the winter,” said Jones. “Last year, making it to the state championship, and then coming up one game short, we wanted to finish what we had started.”
Thompson earned a spot in the starting line-up. As a left hander, he gave the team an extra asset that it sorely lacked. He was set to start at first base and also enter the season as a regular in the starting pitching rotation with potential as a reliever as well.
Bell was competing for time in the outfield. He was not guaranteed a regular role, but he was guaranteed an opportunity to earn one. With no clear top three in the outfield, he was set to earn regular playing time throughout the season.
Jones faced the greatest fight for playing time. As a second baseman, he found himself behind regular starters. Jones began the season on a hot streak on offense in the opportunities he was given, and in the eyes of Head Coach Tony Szymendera, he was in the position to earn playing time as a second string infielder, trusted to fill holes whenever necessary.
Unfortunately, this fight for playing time and excitement for the new season was over as quickly as it began. As the season’s first few games began, COVID-19 spread across the country.
As they returned to practice on the Thursday of their spring break, Coach Szymendera gathered the team and explained that school, and baseball along with it, was canceled for two weeks. Two weeks later, Gov. Ralph Northam canceled schools for the rest of the year. The Saints officially ended their season 1-1. “The first thing that came to my mind was our seniors,” said Coach Szymendera. “None of them are playing in college. They just had the last chance to shine, their last organized sports of their life taken away from them. There’s a reason you have last games, it’s part of winding people down towards a conclusion of an experience. They take you through those emotions and prepare you for the next moment. All of a sudden those moments are gone, and it's a really sad thing.”
All their lift sessions, conditioning, winter batting practices rendered meaningless in a single moment. It was a devastating loss, and thoughts of a season of redemption were replaced by what ifs.
Rollins Thompson ’20
“We were young, only three seniors,” Thompson said. “A lot of people, you could say slept on us. I was really hoping we could prove them wrong, but unfortunately we can’t.” Bell was saddened not to say a proper goodbye to his high school experience.
Since the cancelation of the season, the three seniors have dwelled on what they lost. They had their last day of high school without knowing it. They missed their college decision day, athletic banquet and graduation ceremony. Such impactful events trend towards negative emotions, but the three have tried to look back on their baseball careers and find ways to carry memories of joy to match the moments of heartbreak. “I try to think about the friendships that I’ve made,” Jones said. “How they wouldn’t be a thing without the sport.”
Bell was moved to tweet out his appreciation for his time at St. Christopher’s and the opportunities he received to play with his classmates over the years. “I truly believe if I had gone anywhere else I wouldn’t have had the athletic opportunities I had here,” Bell said. “I think St. Chris is special in its way that they offer opportunities no matter your skill set.”
Thompson recalled a particular moment from the semifinal game their junior year that he will never forget. The Saints were playing rival Collegiate for a chance to play in the championship. After a rain delay forced the game to postpone to the following day, the team on offense in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Daymone Fleming stepped up to the plate and crushed a ball over the left field fence for a grand slam, opening up the floodgates to an 11-1 victory. “I will always remember that,” Thompson said, “and how exciting that was.”
John Szymendera ’16, a former Pine Needle sports editor, recently graduated from The University of Virginia, where he majored in media studies and wrote this story for his sports journalism class.