After COVID-19 shut down the program for two seasons, the Dorsey Dons baseball team returned to competition. This year, the roster consists of many athletes from different sports who are learning the fundamentals of playing baseball.
Dons baseball head coach Peter Dobson noted how Dorsey baseball is a tradition; he is happy to have a season as he takes on the challenges of coaching a more inexperienced team.
“With those two years, we graduated a lot of people that were in the pipeline that would have been able to play varsity,” Dobson said. “So now we’re basically starting all over again.”
The student athletes on the team play basketball, soccer, and football. Some players are also pursuing activities outside the realm of sports, like fashion design and culinary arts.
“The shortstop is running track, he played football … and he played basketball. So he’s like the Bo Jackson of Dorsey high school,” Dobson said. “We just have a hodgepodge of players, which kind of represents America. From all different backgrounds, all different walks of life.”
The Dons recently won their first game of the season when they defeated the Locke Saints 12-2. Senior catcher Cameron Washington noted how their hitting and fielding have been improving.
“Our hitting was best in the early innings than it’s ever been. We had more hits today than we had in the last three games,” Washington said. “Having a good game like this, it helps a lot for our confidence and morale.”
Senior pitcher Harrison Allen pitched all five innings and struck out 12 batters. A lesson that Allen learned this season is that “there’s always an opportunity to make the better play.”
“I’m just happy I got to play a part in this win for my team and we played well as a team,” Allen said. “I felt very comfortable on the mound and hitting in the batter’s box.”
The Dons also found ways to steal bases early on, helping them have a 9-0 lead by the top of the third inning.
“A lot of their pitches had high leg raises which when you have that, that’s an easy base steal because you can’t really hold your runner on,” Washington said.
Washington mentioned how time will help enrich the team’s raw skills. Dobson wants the team to apply the lessons they learned on the baseball field to their lives.
“It’s not really about making them into baseball players, it’s just making them into better people through baseball,” Dobson said. “They have a whole life to live if they don’t play baseball anymore. The things that I’m trying to get across to them with baseball is about overcoming adversity.”
