@MarkKnudson41
Coors Field is the third oldest venue in the National League. Only Wrigley Field in Chicago and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles pre-date Coors, which opened in 1995.
So it’s hard to imagine that any member of this generation of high school baseball players haven’t been to Coors and taken in a game or three as a spectator. Even current Rockies Kyle Freeland and Ty Blach attended games their as youngsters.
But it’s a totally new experience when you step onto the field as a participant.
The Colorado Rockies certainly knew that would be the case when they began the High School Baseball program back in 2001 and featured Dakota Ridge played Highland’s Ranch in the very first game. Since then, roughly 80 different programs have played more than 225 games (mostly in March, before the Rockies return from spring training) at 20th and Blake.
Of course, there is something valuable that the team gets back in return. In exchange for allowing schools to schedule a game at Coors Field, each program must sell a specified allotment of Rockies tickets. This also allows the schools a chance to raise money for their programs…so it’s a win-win-win deal or all involved.
So there was plenty of enthusiasm packed with us on our bus as we made the short drive to LoDo to play the second baseball game in our school’s brief history at Coors Field this past week. Our scheduled mid-March game, which was snowed out, was thankfully rescheduled for this week with the Rockies on a long road trip.
For those of us fortunate enough to spend “work” time at Coors, the experience of being down in the dugout is nothing new. But to look into the wide eyes of the kids who are walking onto the field for the very first time – seeing their school logo and their names on the giant scoreboard, and hearing their name announced before the game and when they walk up to the plate – is a thrill and a memory that will last for a lifetime.
As a coach, you really don’t know what to expect from your players, especially when you have a painfully young roster with just four upperclassman in the line-up. Will the stage be too big? Will any of them be overwhelmed and try too hard (which is the surest way to not succeed…) and perhaps have their development set back? (There’s also the challenge of getting your entire varsity roster into the game in some capacity. Our opponents, Denver East, had the unenviable task of getting as many has 15+ substitutes onto the field. Not sure they made it. We only had eight subs, and as it turned out, were only able to get five of them in during the five inning game. That was the only disappointing thing on our end.)
On the other hand, you go in hoping that the rush of being on the finely manicured field in a big league ballpark might tap a new source of energy and resolve in your players.
For our team, it turned out to be a little bit of everything…with a strong tilt toward the more favorable outcome. In the end, we ended up playing to a 5-5 draw with the Angels, after letting a 5-2 lead slip away in the final inning. (There’s a strict time limit on these games, so no extra innings allowed…) We started out strong, getting five key hits from four different freshman players, and overcoming a couple of late fielding errors to throw the potential winning run out at home plate in the final inning. Our senior right fielder won’t soon forget that outstanding throw, I promise.
We had a large and vocally supportive crowd at Coors to support us (as did Denver East) and the players on both teams did all they could to put on a great show. All in all, it was everything a coach could hope it would be.
The challenge now is to bring these kids back down to earth and be able to play with just as much enthusiasm and energy as they did during their day on the big stage. Because the next day, it’s back to small crowds and bad hops. You know, typical High School baseball.