By Marc Raimondi
When the Newtown baseball team walked into Richmond County Bank Ballpark on May 3, it didn't seem like the players and coaches were entering the home stadium of the Staten Island Yankees. Instead, it just felt like home.
The lockers in the clubhouse were all adorned with the players' names. The video scroll in right field read “Home of the Newtown Pioneers.” And the video board in left-center field introduced Newtown batters with their photo and their name.
“People say playing high-school baseball is something you always remember,” Newtown junior Rodney Fernandez said. “I'll always remember this.”
A few hours after arriving at their one-day home, the Pioneers defeated Francis Lewis, 7-1, in an exhibition game. But winning and losing this game wasn't entirely important, coach Neil Rosenblatt said.
“It was about me giving the kids the opportunity to come out and play on a big stage,” he said.
The Staten Island Yankees have a program where they give a certain amount of their tickets to high-school baseball teams in New York City. If the high-school team sells enough, it gets to host an opponent of its choice at Richmond County Bank Ballpark with all the accoutrements of being the home team. Monsignor McClancy did the same thing last week.
“I'd be foolish not to take advantage of it,” the coach said.
Newtown (7-6), which has won five straight league games, sits in fifth place of Queens East A and is jockeying for a playoff spot after finishing last (1-14) in the division one year ago.
“Little by little, we're coming together,” senior Juan Delacruz said.
And Rosenblatt thinks this could only help the process.
“It's good for team bonding,” he said. “It's good for team chemistry.”
After the excited team got back to the locker room, Rosenblatt addressed his players. A handful of them asked if they could keep the nametags above their lockers.
“Can we take this home?” one player asked.
