As much as Christmas tries to steal the limelight, I am a firm believer that baseball season is the most wonderful time of the year. The weather is finally pleasant, all hopes are high for a winning season, and the sound of the bat cracking a ball into left field is like music to my ears.
For Illinois baseball and softball players, the most wonderful time of the year has finally begun.
The first baseball game, played on Feb. 17 in St. Petersburg, Fla., was a close slugfest in which the Illini fell to Notre Dame 13-12. The Illini and the Irish were close in score the whole game, always being within a couple runs of each other, and found themselves knotted at 11 after seven innings, and again at 12 at the end of the eighth. A solo homerun by an Irish player to lead off the ninth sealed the win for Notre Dame, as Illinois was not able to push across a run to force the game into extra innings.
The baseball team had another nail biter the following day, losing to Louisville 4-3, but secured their first victory on Feb. 19 in a game versus St. John’s.
The team is traveling to Texas, South Carolina, and Oregon before returning to the state of Illinois to face Southern Illinois at Carbondale on March 16. The home opener for Illinois Baseball will be March 30 against Mississippi Valley State.
Illinois softball started off their season in Miami, playing five games in three days and going 2-3. The softball team’s first win of the season was a true pitcher’s duel, with Illinois’ Pepper Gay pitching a complete game shutout, while Alabama-Birmingham’s pitcher did the same. The game went into extra innings tied 0-0, where Illinois was able to score the only run of the game in the top of the eighth.
The softball team is now 3-5 and they are playing in Florida and Nevada before they return to Eichelberger Field to play their home opener against Minnesota on March 24.
Although regular season games are not being played yet, Major League Baseball Spring Training has started as well.
Cubs fans are hoping that new President of Baseball Operations, Theo Epstein, will be able to end the 103-year World Series drought. Joining Epstein is new General Manager, Jed Hoyer; new Senior Vice President of Player Development and Scouting, Jason McLeod; and new manager, Dale Sveum.
The White Sox will have an interesting season under new manager Robin Ventura, who has no managing experience at all.
The Cardinals will be coming off a 2011 season in which they stunned the baseball world, winning the World Series after only barely snagging the National League Wild Card. However, they won’t [o4] have nine-time All-Star Albert Pujols at first base this season, as he signed with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in January for 10 years and $254 million.