PORT ANGELES — After a battle over 7 innings, the Aggies/Wilder alumni game ended in a 10-10 tie.
But the point of the game wasn’t the score. It was the brotherhood, the memories. There would be no eighth inning.
“It was 10-10. We went to the Barhop [Brewery],” said Rob Merritt. “It was a great game. We had a ball.”
Merritt was a member of the 1987 Aggies team that went to the Babe Ruth World Series. He and several of his teammates got together with more recent Wilder graduates for an Aggies-Wilder alumni game held before the Wilder Senior’s season-opener at Civic Field on Saturday.
The hero of the night for Aggies was Thor Gunderson, who belted a three-run bases-loaded double to bring Aggies back in the game after falling behind 8-0. But, there was no reason to keep going. The score itself wasn’t the point, it was reconnecting and reliving the old times. After the seventh inning, they didn’t need to go to extras. It was time to catch up.
Derrin Doty, a Sequim ballplayer on that Aggies squad, came into town from Silverdale, where he coaches the Crosspoint baseball team. He has also coached at Olympic College over the years. After playing for Aggies, Doty went on to play for the University of Washington, hitting .402 as a senior in 1993, and then in the then-California Angels minor league system until 1997.
Doty said his duties as a baseball coach had him picking up a bat many times, but he hadn’t faced serious pitching since 1997.
“That’s a long time, I guess,” Doty said.
His first at-bat in the alumni game? He went up against former Olympic League 2A Division MVP Travis Paynter, a Wilder alum who has pitched at Lower Columbia College, Hawaii Pacific and in the West Coast League.
Doty managed to hit a ball out of the park during batting practice, but wasn’t able to belt one out against Paynter.
“It’s real different when you’re facing Paynter,” Doty said.
Doty called the experience “surreal.”
“We hadn’t seen each other for 32 years. We didn’t know if we would ever see each other again,” Doty said. He added later, “We don’t know if we’re going to see each other again.”
While Doty didn’t have a long trip to Port Angeles, another Aggies alum, Jeff Fryer, came all the way from Phoenix for the game, driving to San Diego to catch a flight up to Seattle. “He got two hours’ rest,” Doty said.
Some Aggies players from 1984 and 1985 also showed up for the game. One of them, Scott Schwagler, still lives in Port Angeles.
After the game, the Aggies alumni got together at the Barhop for at least three hours, sharing memories and stories. The most powerful moment was a letter sent by teammate Andy Johnson to Merritt. After playing ball locally, Johnson went on to play baseball at Troy University in Alabama and then served in Iraq. He’s very ill with cancer and couldn’t attend the game, but wrote a two-page letter to his former teammates.
“It was really powerful … heartfelt and touching,” Doty said.
Doty also said the old Aggies coach, Scott Brodhun, attended the gathering.
“He was still the best coach I ever hard. He was really hard on me,” Doty said.
Doty’s favorite memory was walking off the field at the end of the game with friend John Schiefelbein, who is now a dentist in Leavenworth. He said they put their arms around each other.
“We walked off the field and saw the Olympic Mountains and both felt chills. It was amazing,” Doty said.
“It was mission complete. The circle had come back around.”
Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News Darrin Doty of the 1987 Aggies takes a cut in the Aggies-Wilder Alumni Game held on Sunday at Civic Field. The game ended in a 10-10 tie.
Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News Darrin Doty of the 1987 Aggies takes a cut in the Aggies-Wilder Alumni Game held on Sunday at Civic Field. The game ended in a 10-10 tie.
