Santa Fe baseball team makes subtle uniform change to honor shooting victims
On the night of the horrific shooting at Sante Fe High School in Texas that took the lives of eight students and two teachers, the Sante Fe varsity baseball team was supposed to compete in a playoff game.
The Friday night game was postponed, for obvious reasons, and the team was given the option of whether or not they wanted to play it all.
The players all met on Friday, behind closed doors, without coaches or parents in attendance, to make the decision whether to play on.
Had they decided not to, given the circumstances, no one would have any problem with it, especially since their star pitcher, sophomore Rome Shubert, was among those who were shot.
I’m so greatful and blessed that god spared me life today. Today I was shot in the back of the head but i am completely okay and stable.
— Rome Shubert (@romeshubert_) May 18, 2018
Miraculously, the bullet came through the back of his head and exited out just below his left ear, missing anything vital. Somehow, Shubert, a University of Houston commit, not only survived but was OK and was soon released from the hospital.
The team decided to play the make-up game, which was scheduled for Saturday.
Beautiful work by @jonjshapley on this video of Santa Fe HS baseball team returning to the field as they heal from shooting. Story by @HunterAtkins35 https://t.co/jPCdkemsMG pic.twitter.com/abGCqHa4Ge
— Jasmine Goldband (@fotojaz) May 20, 2018
“To show the community that we’re a lot stronger than what happened,” Shubert said, reported ESPN. “This kinda shows that we’re … gonna pick each other up and come out here, play, give the community some hope, some life, everything.”
As Santa Fe coach Ronnie Wulf told ESPN, the game allowed him, as well as a grieving community, to think about something else other than the horrific shooting, even for a few hours.
“Just got away from it,” Wulf said. “Didn’t think about it, like I am now.”
https://twitter.com/jonurbana1/status/998212554265714688
The game was played before an overflowing, standing room only crowd at Deer Park High School against Kingswood, which had beaten Sante Fe 4-0 in the first game of the two-game series Thursday.
Kingswood won again on Saturday, 7-0, to end Sante Fe’s season, but the outcome didn’t matter. It was about the community coming together.
Before the game, the players and coaches from both teams all stood, arm-in-arm, praying together. The Kingswood players all wore “Sante Fe Strong” T-shirts over their uniforms in a show of unity.
The Santa Fe players wore black sleeves under their uniforms that said “Santa Fe Strong” and “10” on their right arms.
Santa Fe High School baseball players bow their heads in a moment of silence for the shooting victims at their school before a baseball game against Kingwood Park High School in Deer Park, Texas on Saturday. https://t.co/0aSjUtcUPh pic.twitter.com/t2xi1J759U
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 20, 2018
Shubert was there in attendance, sitting in the dugout with his teammates with his head in a bandage.
“After everything that happened, it was definitely hard to come out here and be as strong as they were,” Shubert said, according to ESPN. The bullet missed his vertebrae by a fraction of an inch, which would have left him paralyzed, doctors said.
Several Santa Fe players wore eye black in the shape of a cross on their cheeks. Others put the numbers “14” and “33” on their cheeks for their injured teammates, Shubert, No. 33, and Trenton Beazley, No. 14. Beazley was hit in the back by a bullet that ricocheted off something else and injured his arm, reported ESPN.
I am so grateful to be alive thank you soo much Santa Fe for all the love and respect that I've gotten I will not let this get in my way. #PrayersForSantaFe #SantaFeStrong
— Trenton Beazley (@TrentonBeazley) May 21, 2018
To honor the victims of this senseless tragedy, two pieces of tape in the shape of the cross were stuck to the Sante Fe dugout with initials of the eight students and two teachers who were killed in the shooting. The tape also included the words, “Missed but never forgotten.”
https://twitter.com/animemoto/status/998264563781939205
After the game, the two teams met on the infield to hug one another, with the Kingswood players again wearing “Sante Fe Strong” T-shirts.
“That meant a lot,” Sante Fe’s Beazley said, according to ESPN. “They told us, ‘We’re playing for y’all now.'”
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