Graduating baseball players from all nine high schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District and one player from Gorman Learning Center got together at the Hart Pony Baseball & Softball fields on Sunday afternoon to take a photo to commemorate “where it all began” for them.
Jeff Press, organizer of the event and owner of a local Firehouse Subs franchise, said it is a thrill to see the baseball players go through their lives playing the sport and being able to come back to the Hart Pony fields to take the picture.
“This is where it started for pretty much all of them. Whether it’s Hart baseball or travel ball, they grew up here. And then they got to the ultimate part of playing baseball, (which they were) able to play in high school. And that’s amazing to see them get to that part. Many kids, it’ll stop here. They’ll go on to college and, you know, concentrate on their major,” Press said.
Press arranged the photo last year after his son, Zach, was graduating from Castaic High School. He added that he had forgotten all about the photo because his son was out of baseball, but Press wanted to keep the tradition alive.
Kade Breech, a senior at Valencia High School, said it was cool to be with friends who he grew up with and being able to have a photograph to commemorate the event.
“There’s definitely a lot of memories that replay in my head like the travel teams, all-star teams with everyone, so it’s pretty cool being able to have that picture forever with everyone,” Breech said.
Breech said he plans to close his baseball chapter after high school and said he might go to College of the Canyons or try to get into the movie lighting industry.
Andrew Bond and Carson Hage, both baseball players from Castaic High, said it is bittersweet being at the Hart field.
“It feels pretty good being able to reconnect with a bunch of people that I haven’t seen or played with since I was … I don’t even know, like 8 or 9. So, it feels like, it feels good,” Bond said.
“Yeah, I think it’s pretty cool. I mean, a lot of these guys I played with growing up, especially on travel teams and whatnot, and then even some guys who transferred at some point, getting to see all of them again and take a picture with everyone is really cool,” Hage said.
Bond said he would be going to Glendale Community College, while Hage said he is not planning on playing baseball after high school.
