April 25, 2024

Raider baseball team honors fallen teammate with kind gesture

By Troy Hyde

Members of the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter baseball team wore white T-shirts with No. 22 on them during warm-ups for Saturday’s district final against North Polk. The shirts and 22 were in honor of teammate Brad Ritter (back row in black), who was injured in Tuesday’s playoff win over Ogden and could not play Saturday. (Photo by)

OGDEN — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter baseball coach Max Seeman says, Raider junior Brad Ritter is an awesome teammate, a kid you love to coach and a kid you love to be friends with.

So when Ritter went down with an injury after colliding with the outfield fence during CMB’s playoff win over top-seeded Ogden last Tuesday, it wasn’t a surprise that one of his teammates found a way to honor him at Saturday’s district final against defending Class 2A champion North Polk.

Ritter was unable to play against the Comets after sustaining a concussion, but his number 22 was present in the game.

Sophomore teammate Tucker Maxwell made sure of that.

Maxwell bought white T-shirts and put 22 on all of them and ordered No. 22 stickers for the back of the team’s batting helmets. It was his way of showing Ritter how much he means to the team.

“I was the one that ran out there and got the ball and saw him in that state, and it scared me,” said Maxwell, who was playing center field when Ritter went down in right field. “So I just wanted to do something to let everyone know how much he means to all of us. We are all grateful that he is safe.”

Maxwell used his own money for the shirts and stickers. The total was $40, but it wasn’t about the money. It was about the gesture itself.

“I didn’t know until I walked in the dugout before the game,” said Ritter, who was forced to watch the game in street clothes. “It was really cool of the guys to think about me and care about me. It was hard for me to be here and watch the game but not play.”

Ritter said he felt fine after the game and wanted to play. But doctors don’t take too many chances with concussions these days.

It’s unfortunate, too. Ritter could have helped the team in a 4-3 loss to the Comets. In the two previous playoff games, Ritter combined to rip four doubles, score two runs and collect three RBIs.

“We definitely missed him. He’s been hot,” Seeman said. “He’s a junior that has experience and that calmness about him that you know he’ll come up big in certain situations. If we had him in the game, it might have been different, but if we didn’t give up three runs in the first inning off a couple mental mistakes it may have been different, too.”