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Pals at heart, rivals on diamond Theirs is a friendly, like-family feud
By RITA FARLOW, Times Staff Writer
Published March 12, 2008
It's a story that could be told throughout countless communities across the nation. - Parents sign their boys up for Little League and spend the next 10 years ferrying neighborhood kids to local ballfields. - They host birthday parties and spring for pizza after games. Along the way, friendships are forged. - And then those little boys grow up and head to different high schools. Twice a year, they put aside their friendships and compete against each other. Well, something like that. * * *
On a chilly Friday night at the end of February, baseball players from Largo and Pinellas Park high schools lined up for introductions before their first meeting of the season. Pat May, mom of Largo High pitcher Blake May, grabbed the mike and started reeling off names. Parents from both sides erupted with cheers - for members of both teams. A bystander would be hard-pressed to figure out which kids belonged to which parents. Nearly a dozen players from Largo and Pinellas Park high schools played on Largo Little League teams together. Several were on the 2006 West Coast Rattlers AAU team that finished fourth in the nation that year. "No doubt about it, they're a tight group of friends. They don't like to lose this particular game, any of them," said Matt Casey, 49, father of Pinellas Park centerfielder Shane Casey. Pinellas Park pitcher Billy Glessner agreed: "It just makes you want to win more." * * *
But it's not all about winning, the young men said. They support each other on and off the field. "If we're, like, struggling hitting, one of our friends will help us out. We've all got each others' backs," said Blake May, 17. Connected by a love of sports, the young men go to Rays games together and have spent countless hours shooting hoops and playing impromptu pickup football games. They've learned a lot from each other, about baseball, and life in general, said Largo senior centerfielder Danny Ryan. "We try to pick each other up. It's constructive criticism," said Ryan, 17. "It's all friendly competition and when we play against each other it's all about bragging rights." * * *
It's also about family. When Richie Wisniewski lost his father when he was 8, other baseball dads rallied around him, said his mother Cindy Wisniewski, 48. Because of their efforts, Richie never lacked male role models, Cindy Wisniewski said. "I always say it takes a village to raise a child," she said. "Baseball has been the village for these boys. They've been a family. They've been through a lot together." * * *
The bragging rights on this night go to Largo, which routed Pinellas Park 12-2. But two weeks from tonight, the teams will square off again. Since most of the kids are seniors, this will likely be the last time they play against each other. Most will go off to different colleges, where their paths may or may not cross again. "It's hard to believe that it's almost over, that they're grown," Terri Glessner said. No matter where life leads them, the boys will always know they can count on each other, and each other's families, Glessner said. Pinellas Park's Shane Casey, 17, said it's comforting to know you've got so many good people in your corner. "You just know that they're always there for you." Rita Farlow can be reached at farlow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4162. If you go One more time Largo High School and Pinellas Park High School varsity baseball teams will meet once more this season, at 7 p.m. March 26 at the Ronald P. Forbes Recreation Center, 6401 94th Ave.
[Last modified March 11, 2008, 23:44:09]
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