By Connie Leinbach
With sandlot baseball, adults who’ve been away from the game for decades can relive the game of their youth.
“It keeps baseball alive,” said Joseph Giampino of Raleigh and one of the organizers of the “Battle of the Ocracoke Infield” at Ocracoke’s community ballfield, in which several Sandlot League teams from the Triangle area made the trek to Ocracoke one recent October weekend to play on what he calls “North Carolina’s Field of Dreams.”
There was lots of laughter and joshing among the players, who kept track of the outs and pitching count for each player at bat but not necessarily the scores.
When small children were up for bat, the pitchers threw easier balls and the infielders muffed the catches, allowing the little tykes to reach the bases.
“It’s like the world,” Giampino said, noting the different ages and ethnicities among the players. “It’s grass roots.”
The league accepts all calibers of players, he said, and one rule is that they play with wooden bats, which reflect baseball’s origin.
“We play to everyone’s ability,” he said. “It’s unique and there are a lot of families.”
Ocracoke adults and youth were the Ocracoke Oystercatchers.
Ocracoke eighth grader Duncan McClain was a catcher for the team and also pitched a few.
“He just loves baseball,” noted his mom, Laura, who was the grill chef for Saturday’s games. Dad, Jim, also attended, played and looked after the field, which he does full time since the ballfield’s longtime caretaker Danny Worsley died in May.
Islander Luke Davis coordinated the event.
Giampino is on the Carolina Kudzu Ball Club, for which he created its logo, T-shirt design and motto, “Invading the field.”
Kudzu came to the United States from Japan in 1876.
“That weed just took over the South,” he said about the motto. “I’ve always loved the way it sounds – invading the field.”
The other teams were the Durham Dirtbags, the Carrboro Freight Trains, the Neuse River Nine and the Wake Forest Wombats.
There’s a lot of history and lore around baseball, he noted– lots of songs, famous players whose legacies have become part of the American fabric of life.
According to the Library of Congress Research Guide, baseball is the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. While it traces its history back to the 18th century, it wasn’t until the 20th century that it really became America’s national pastime.
Other sources claim football has eclipsed baseball in popularity.
Evan Crochet of Cary and a member of the Neuse River Nine is a newcomer to North Carolina, having only lived in the state for almost three years.
He hadn’t played since he was 18, and when he saw an Instagram post about the league he decided to join.
“I love the community and the good balance of competition and fun,” he said while waiting at the dugout for his turn at bat. “My teammates and I became really good friends.”
Giampino and others on his team praised Ocracoke and its ballfield.
“We love it here,” he said. “Everyone is so welcoming.”
Baseball is their respite.
“We come together as one on the ballfield,” Giampino said. “The world is a wild place now and it’s pretty cool to come together as one and kind of forget about how wild everything is out there and play baseball. We’re really lucky to still be able to play baseball.”
