Baseball participates in annual Pearson Memorial game

Kathryn Cross

Staff Writer

It was the sixth inning, the score was 2-1, and senior Jackson Michalski stepped up to the plate. With the bases loaded, Michalski secured a Mustang victory for the first game of the day, a 4-1 match against El Segundo High School.  El Segundo High School won the second game of the day, with a score of 5-2.

The March 24 nonleague games were part of the Pearson Memorial game, which is an annual tradition that honors Mira Costa Varsity baseball alumni Henry Pearson, who passed away after a 2009 drunk driving accident in 2009.  To commemorate her son, Pearson’s mother, Areta, threw the first pitch of the event.

“I felt that having the game commemorate a player gave the team more passion for sure,” senior baseball player Adam Reinart said.  “We need to know that those who have passed will never be forgotten and will always be an influence on the team.”

According to Reinart, the most exciting part of the Henry Pearson Memorial games was when the score was 1-1 during the first game, but Mira Costa ensured their victory with three runs between the sixth and ninth innings, the first game ended in a score of 4-1.

“El Segundo has a really talented team and I think we did a great job of coming back in the first game as a result of good teamwork,” junior baseball player Trevor Franklin said.

The second game ended with a 5-2 victory to El Segundo High School with El Segundo starting pitcher Alberto Garcia exceeding 100 pitches, securing a victory for them.

“The games went well overall, but we felt like we could have played better in the second game,” senior baseball player Luke McCaughley said.

According to Franklin, the Mira Costa baseball team will be able to learn from the Pearson Memorial Game as players and people as well.

“With every game we have been able to learn and benefit,” Franklin said.  “We have been fairly successful this year with learning from our mistakes.”

Costa’s next baseball game will be at Mira Costa against Palos Verdes Peninsula on April 22 at 3:15 p.m.

“We also got to remember one of the greatest Mira Costa baseball players in our school’s history and honor his family and friends.  It was an extremely humbling experience for our team,” Franklin said.