The stadium lights beam down onto the field at Fenway Park. The crowd roars in excitement. It’s the top of the 9th. The Red Sox are up 6-1. Giancarlo Stanton comes up to bat, and Garret Whitlock throws a sinker right down the plate. Stanton swings, and cracks the ball deep into right field. The once ecstatic crowd now holds their breath as the ball soars in the air, fearing the inevitable. The ball lands into the stands, staying fair. It’s a home run. It’s now 6-2.
Another out comes right after, and now there’s two down. Against a new batter, Whitlock throws another sinker, and again, the batter cracks it deep. The ball soars in the air with fierce velocity. Again, the fans can’t help but hold their breath. The ball peaks in the air, and starts plummeting towards the ground. It’s going deep. Hunter Renfroe, the right fielder, hustles to the wall. The ball comes down, and Renfroe makes the catch. The ball was too short. The Red Sox win!
The Red Sox took down the Yankees in the American League wild card game 6-2 Oct. 5, 2021, at Fenway Park.
At the time of the game, players from the New England College baseball team gathered to watch.
“I organized the event,” said Terry Doyle, the head coach of the NEC baseball team. “My favorite memories from college were getting together with my team and watching the games.”
Doyle pointed out a play during the game where Xander Bogarts made a throw to get Aaron Judge out at home.
“There’s definitely an advantage to watching real major league games,” he said. “In practice, we set up cuts and relays to try to replicate those plays.”
NEC is in the heart of Red Sox nation, so it is no surprise that there are plenty of Red Sox fans that attend. There are also plenty of Yankee fans that go to the school.
Kyle Dobrie, a Yankees fan on the NEC baseball team, said the team was ragging on all the Yankee fans during the game. He emphasized that it was all in good fun, though.
“If it was the other way around, and the Yankees were beating up on the Red Sox, I would’ve been doing the same thing to them,” he said.
After winning the wild card game, the Red Sox went on to play the Tampa Bay Rays, the best team in the American League. The Rays finished with over 100 wins, and Doyle knew it would be an exciting series.
He also said one of the team captains is a big Tampa Bay fan, and he’s not afraid to let the team know when his team is winning.
“We’re all pretty competitive guys,” said Doyle. “Pretty much everything we do becomes a competition of sorts.”
Now, the Red Sox have defeated the Rays 3-1 in their series. The series had plenty of close games, including a five hour and fifteen minute game that lasted 13 innings. That game, the Sox were able to pull away with a win after their catcher, Christian Vasquez, hit a walk off home run.
The Red Sox now have to face the Houston Astros.
For the NEC baseball team, they continue to train to get ready for their season.
