Photo by Jon Stone
As shown in the photo of the boys’ varsity baseball game against Latin, each team has a full dugout with benches that the boys can sit on in between innings. On the girls’ side, there are no benches of any sort, nor is there a designated section for fans on either side. There are two large bleachers on the boys’ baseball field.

“You know what’s harder than catching one of Morgan’s pitches from behind the plate?” senior Megan Stansbury said. “Doing it without a proper glove. I don’t remember the last time that we owned a real catcher’s mitt.”

The girls’ softball team (1-5) has been under-equipped for the two months that they have been playing thus far. “Only four of our seven helmets were certified because the cages on most of them are broken,” junior captain Morgan Harler said. “Our home field is also missing a dugout to protect us from any foul balls as well as benches for our parents and fans to sit on. It’s really been a struggle so far.”

Although the weather has recently begun to warm up, the team has had issues regarding practice too. “You know, it’s always hard when the preseason starts in February for a sport which is meant to be played outside,” head coach, and upper school English teacher, Mike Mahany said. “We’ve only had one outdoor practice so far because it’s only starting to warm up outside and permits for the fields at North Avenue aren’t all that easy to obtain.”

Some players on both the softball and baseball teams believe that it would be worth it for Parker to lease a diamond of their own since those programs are among the more prominent at the school. “I would love to have a field of our own,” Casey Barr, a junior on Parker’s baseball team, said. “It would help our program immensely in terms of scheduling practices and games.”

“Scheduling practices hasn’t been too easy thus far,” Athletic Director Bobby Starks said. “But I feel as though we’ve done as good as we can with taking the boys’ and girls’ to the Windy City Fieldhouse as the conditions of the North Avenue fields worsen due to the amount of rain that we’ve had.”

On the boys’ side, student-athletes have been adjusting fairly well.  “This season has been great so far,” senior Eli Malkin said. Our new Coach Isaiah Clark has been outstanding. Our team has also started this year stronger than in years past, which has really been awesome.”

As of May 13, the baseball team (4-12) has had five practices outside as opposed to the girls’ three. “The weather hasn’t been the best, but we still want to try and get some more experience outside under our belts,” junior captain Nina Blake said. “The fields are always reserved after school for other games, which has been tough so far.”