Graduating on baseball field "like a dream" for Shady Spring seniors

May 31—Nearly 200 Shady Spring seniors will receive their high school diplomas Friday night on the school's football field as proud parents and lifelong friends watch on.

Seven of them will actually be about an hour away, and the consensus is there is no other place they would rather be.

Shady Spring's baseball team will begin state tournament play at about 8 p.m. that evening — an hour after ceremonies are set to begin at the school. Before the Tigers' first pitch against Keyser, the team's seven seniors will receive their diplomas on the synthetic surface of GoMart Ballpark in Charleston.

Parker Brown, Cash McCall, Tyler Mackey, Cam Manns, Tyler Reed, Adam Richmond and Colten Tate will all be recognized before the game, which is scheduled to start 50 minutes after the conclusion of the 5 p.m. game between Winfield and Lewis County.

No offense to anyone else, but receiving their diplomas together, on a baseball field, comes to them as the perfect setting.

"I feel like it's a lot more exciting," said Tate, the second baseman. "A lot more exciting than sitting there waiting on my name to be called and just walking off the stage. I'd rather be graduating on a baseball field."

Brown, who took over in right field after fellow senior Tyler Mackey was injured, conceded that he wouldn't mind being at the ceremony with the rest of the graduating class, but agreed that graduating on the diamond will be a lasting memory.

"It's neat. Not many people get to do that, so it's a great opportunity," Brown said. "You'd love to be at graduation, but we're excited to be able to graduate on the baseball field. We're happy to be there."

"I wouldn't want to get it any other place, other than graduation," said Richmond, the first baseman. "I think it's pretty cool."

"I think that will be a lot more fun and a lot more cool, especially because it's where we all want to be," added McCall, an infielder. "In reality, we'd all rather be on the baseball field than some football field getting our diploma. It's a cool opportunity."

It's a poetic scenario, really, since the baseball field is where they all essentially met. Be it Shady Spring Little League or the West Virginia Sting travel team, on up through the Upper Deck Middle School League and now at the high school, the seven seniors have been teammates most of their young lives.

"It's been amazing. I've been with them since I was 4, 5, 6, in that area," said Reed, the primary catcher. "Tons of memories. I'm going to miss it. I liked it."

"It's been a great four years — well, three years because freshman year got cut short (because of Covid)," added Manns, the ace of the staff and shortstop when he's not pitching. "It's been a great ride with these boys, and it's not over yet.

Mackey has a unique perspective on the season, one that was unfortunately taken from him because of the knee injury he suffered during football season. It hasn't stopped his career — he recently signed a letter of intent to play at WVU Tech.

"We've been together since we were 5, 6 years old," Mackey said. "We played on a team, the West Virginia Sting with Colten Tate's dad Shaler since, I think we started when we were 7, and we've been close together ever since then."

"We've all played together and we've got great chemistry," Manns said.

One thing about those days, they still took time to enjoy the things of a typical childhood.

"At the Little League field, we would always play the game and after the game we'd go and play on the playground when we were little," Tate said.

And there's always that competitive nature.

"Me and a couple of the players used to be on a team and we had won a couple of championships in Little League," McCall said. "Had a chance to play against the other people on the team, too, and we beat them in it."

Whatever happens this weekend, life will go on and will take everyone on different paths. But that doesn't mean the friendships will end.

"Obviously, with this being our senior year, we're going to go, not necessarily our separate ways; I feel like we will still be in contact with each other," Mackey said. "But we're going to be playing with different people. We're going to be playing against each other even, with me going to Tech and Cam going to Fairmont. Adam going wherever he goes, and Colten. Yeah, I'm excited to be able to compete against those guys and them still be in my circle."

"We've been playing together since we were 9, 10 years old, so it's tough kind of seeing it come to an end," Brown said. "But we look forward to competing at states and trying to end off on a good note."

Missing graduation for a state tournament-level event is rare depending on timing, but not unprecedented. Reed's sister Brianna missed her ceremony in 2019 when it was held the same day as the state track meet.

"I'd rather that than anything, honestly," Reed said. "On the baseball field is actually like a dream to me. I'd rather get it on the baseball field than anywhere else."

Getting a diploma and trophy in one weekend would be the perfect ending.

"It's been great," said Richmond, "and it would be great to close it out with a state championship, after all we've been through together."