LYNN — The Babe Ruth team took on the North Shore Giants at Fraser Field for a fundraiser event, in the hope of sending them to the World Series in Virginia. However, Head Coach Leon Elwell and the team had an opponent that they were used to being on their side — Elwell’s son Zack.
Zack just so happened to be the catcher for the Giants and sat behind the plate for them during the game.
“Zack actually caught for their team a few years back, I believe maybe four or five years ago, they were in the World Series. So it’s actually pretty fun to see Zach transition onto our team and then being able to reciprocate and you know play against his dad coaching the team,” said Giants player Mark Roberts. “So that was awesome. It’s good to see everyone seems to have a good time and they got some work in.”
Lynn’s Coach Rich Avery seemed to like the idea. “It was pretty cool,” said Avery with a bit of a chuckle. “It must be a throw for Coach Leon, you know, to go against his son. But Zack has been down to a bunch of our practices, helping up with our catchers and stuff like that.”
But for Zack, it created a twist to the game.
“It’s a little weird because he’s coached me all my life. But tonight was about the kids and you know getting them ready to head to Virginia,” said Zack. “We’re a men’s league like we shouldn’t be on the same field as these 15-year-olds. You know what I mean? But like I said it’s about the kids tonight. We’re just trying to help them out over here.”
Maddi Filip can be reached at [email protected].
