An evening of baseball in Ozark, MO: checking out the Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League

The walls are bright blue and seem 20 feet high.

I visit the concession stand and buy a cheeseburger and fries for $5.50. The cashier doubles, so to speak, as the catcher for the Villains. He redshirted at Fullerton (Ca.) College last year, and after this upcoming season he’ll go play at a four-year-school – “wherever.” This summer he boards with family friends in the area.

The Villains are one of four teams who play in the Show-Me Collegiate Baseball League, where seven bucks gets you any seat in the stadium. “It’s general admission, right?” I ask.

I count 55 other souls in the seats – and one towheaded toddler giggling and chasing after a tiny basketball his father rolls to him. I sit close by the netting so I can aim my camera through its holes and get the shots I want.

The players are here on summer break from schools like Crowder College, Oklahoma Christian, and State Fair Community. They hit with wooden bats, but still, when a player hits a fly ball just left of the foul pole it clangs into the wall, like someone slammed a dumpster lid.

The field is dark brown and dark green, and as I watch a batter kick the dirt as he settles into the box, I realize it’s all made of AstroTurf, anyway. Old habit.

But I’m close enough to see the flaps guarding the home plate umpire’s ankles, and to hear a teammate compliment a catcher on the pitch sequence. After a batter is hit by a pitch the ball trickles toward the next hitter. He hands the ball to the umpire.

“Thank you, sir,” the umpire says.

A couple of fans, a redheaded woman and her elementary-aged daughter, discuss how far the game has come:

“When’s the last inning that has any numbers in it,” the woman asks. It’s the 3rd, they decide.

After the 7^th the kid from the concession stand carries an empty orange Gatorade container to the third base dugout, fills it, and walks back across the field with the help of a friend. Maybe it’s the guy who grilled my cheeseburger: he plays ball, too.

As the game wears on I heard loud pings behind the outfield wall – kids in batting practice. US Baseball Park is also hosting a tournament this weekend. Two travel teams from Texas planned to play earlier but rain pushed the game back. The kids are 14, and the PA announcer says the national anthem won’t be sung again on account of the late hour.

So the cicadas sing instead.

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