Whether it’s played in a historic stadium, containing excited fans anticipating each exhilarating inning, or simply in one’s backyard, the sport of baseball,“America’s Pastime,” has streamed through every household. Baseball’s timelessness, intricacy, and technicality, has stretched all the way from the hands of dads’ pitching in backyards to thirty-one-year-old Japanese two-way players in sold-out stadiums, bending the laws of athletics.
Baseball’s long and storied history starts with a bit of muddiness. The origins are unclear, but most historians agree that it can be traced back to the game rounders, another game with a bat, ball, and four bases. However, rounders was much more violent than the baseball we know today. To get someone out, a player could hit another player directly with a ball. Eventually, this was banned in 1845, a year before the first officially recognized baseball game was played.
The first official league was created in 1871, a few years after baseball began to be recognized as a “national pastime.” The current National League and American League began as two separate entities and as bitter rivals in 1901. Around the same time, racial segregation first began to occur in baseball.
The major leagues were established two years later with the intent of creating a more organized system of competition, and the Boston Americans won against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series that year. Baseball began to grow in popularity in the 1920s with the rise of slugger Babe Ruth, who is now a household name. Perhaps the most pivotal moment in baseball came twenty years later, when Jackie Robinson finally desegregated baseball for all to play.
Saint Francis High School has a storied history in baseball, with the Lancers winning seventeen West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) titles in their time in the league. Their first Central Coast Section (CCS) championship came in 1981, when they shut out Capuchino High School 4-0. Their most recent CCS championship was in 2022, which this year’s team will look to build upon.
They have started strong, going 6-1 in non-league play with their first few WCAL games against Archbishop Riordan High School. Junior Jack Leeper has been their anchor on offense, batting already .600 on the season so far. Leeper has also been playing well after getting on base, having stolen twelve bases in just seven games. Alongside Leeper, his fellow junior Cody Butler has also been contributing well to the offense, batting .500 in his games so far. Seniors Tanner Wall and Gino Cappellazzo have each hit a home run, tied for the team lead.
On the pitching side, senior Brody Larocque has been a bright spot for the Lancers. He has already logged three wins with zero earned runs allowed (ERA). Not far behind him is junior Kyle McMillan, who has a 1.27 ERA in three appearances with two wins.
Overall, the team has scored sixty runs through seven games played. On the other hand, the Lancers have allowed just nine runs, with six of those coming in their lone loss to Soquel High School. The Lancers’ strong start has set a strong precedent for the rest of the season, an exciting preview of things to come!
