Fultondale High baseball lives a dream with ‘home’ opener at Regions Field
Fultondale High School's Nik Weldon, Hunter Vickery and Joshua Jepson await the start of their game against Ramsay High School at Regions Field. (Solomon Crenshaw / Alabama NewsCenter)
Senior Michael Hall almost forgot to touch home.
Not after he circled the bases at Regions Field on Saturday afternoon, but as he stepped onto the field that is the home of the Double A Birmingham Barons.
Hall and his Fultondale High School baseball teammates had a piece of their “real” home with them as they took the field for their “home” opener against the Ramsay Rams.
“We brought home plate from our field that was hit by the tornado,” coach Michael Franklin said. “It’s with us. We’ve got it over here in the dugout and the kids know that they’ll come out and they’ll touch it before they take the field every inning and kind of treat it like this is their home.”
And thanks to hospitality of the Barons, the baseball team and the city of Fultondale were able to step away from the destruction of the EF3 tornado that destroyed or damaged several homes and businesses and took the life of a Fultondale High School freshman.
[vimeo 518144624 w=640 h=360]Fultondale High School opens season at Regions Field from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Barons General Manager Jonathan Nelson recalled other storms that have struck parts of the metro area and the steps the Barons have taken to aid in recovery.
“We’ve always tried to be a community organization and be helpful in a variety of different ways,” he said, citing the rash of tornadoes that ravished several communities across the state in 2011.
On that occasion, the Barons solicited auction items from Major League and Minor League teams. Those items were auctioned to raise money in the relief effort.
The Fultondale baseball team, like so many others, had its 2020 season cut short due to the pandemic, Nelson said. “With the advent of their home baseball field (being damaged) and having to basically play all road games and in a still COVID-affected world in 2021, we welcome the opportunity to hopefully provide all those players, that team, that school and, hopefully, that community an opportunity to come out to Regions Field and enjoy the experience out here.”
That experience included some of the fan favorites that have long been part of the experience of attending Barons home games. Fultondale’s Kerry Melton took part in the dizzy bat contest. He’s had three children graduate from Fultondale High School and a fourth is a senior on the school’s softball team.
“It was rough on the community and the sports and everything,” Melton said of the devastation and upheaval of the tornado. “But as a family, everybody came together and just reunited around each other and just help each other.”
Prior to Saturday’s game, four Wildcat seniors simultaneously threw out the ceremonial first pitch and posed with their fathers on the infield. The public address announcer asked for a moment of silence to remember Elliott Hernandez, the ninth-grader who lost his life in the tornado. Junior Harrison Ellis played the National Anthem on trumpet.
Watching the game was a bit like old times for Fultondale scorekeeper Melvin Weldon. He coached eight of the Wildcat players in youth baseball. In 2019, he coached a Huffman youth baseball squad – including his son, Nik Weldon, and Ramsay players Jonathan Williams, Corey Johnson and Eric Allen – to the Dizzy Dean World Series in Southaven, Mississippi.
“I love seeing these young men go out here and compete against each other,” he said. “All of them that I know have great character and great competition level. I couldn’t be more proud of any of them.”
The game began with the Wildcats turning a triple play in the first inning. With two on and no outs, second baseman Josh Jepson caught a line drive and zipped the ball to Weldon, the first baseman, for the second out. Weldon threw to shortstop Dylan Gengler to catch the runner who had strayed from second base.
There would be no fairytale ending for Fultondale, however, as the Rams came away with a 7-1 victory. Joseph “JoeJoe” Hammaker scored the Wildcats’ lone run from third on a double steal.
For the remainder of this season, Fultondale will play its “home” games at the old Tarrant Recreation Field at the end of Clow Road.
But the memory of having a professional baseball diamond as their home field for a day will likely live beyond the sting of defeat.
“It’s unforgettable,” said Dylan Gengler, a utility player. “It’s definitely a senior season I won’t forget.”
