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At The Old Ballgame

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By JOHN CEBALLOS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2008

GIBSONTON - The past, present and future of East Bay High School baseball recently met on the same field for the first time.

Thirty former players participated in an East Bay High School alumni baseball game Sunday at the school. The game featured players who graduated from the school in the past 30 years.

"It's the first time in about 20 years that there's been an alumni baseball game and certainly the first time a lot of the players today have had the chance to participate in something like this," said Carolyn Gill, who helped organize the event and is a member of the EBHS Class of 1978.

Before the game, the 30 alumni were joined on the field by current members of the baseball team.

They were also joined by a group of middle school students - from Eisenhower, Beth Shields and Progress Village - who have been practicing with the team and will attend East Bay next year.

"We're very happy and honored to have the alumni with us today," said Bill Colome, who is in his first year as head coach of the team. "We're also very excited about the direction our baseball program is headed."

The game - which was played between 2 and 4:30 p.m. - ended 3-2 after six innings. The score was almost beside the point as both all-alumni teams - which weren't even designated by name - were more focused on getting every player at least one at bat and one inning in the field than in the final outcome.

"Nobody's taking the game too seriously," said Rick Thompson, who was one of the game's starting pitchers and is a member of the Class of 1988. "Today is all about having fun."

"It's always a treat to get everyone from all the different graduating classes together," Gill said. "Hopefully, this game is something we can start doing every year."

Reporter John Ceballos can be reached at (813) 865-1555 or jceballos@tampatrib.com.

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