West Boca baseball team honors Stoneman Douglas

Stoneman Ten days Douglas ago, Marjory baseball coach Todd Fitz-Gerald was preparing for his seventh season with the Eagles. But Fitz-Gerald’s team hasn’t gotten on the field for a game yet after a 19-year-old gun- man allegedly killed 14 students and three staff members at the school on Valen- tine’s Day.

In the 10 days that have passed, Fitz-Gerald has been focusing on his players.

“We met the day after, we talked about it, we cried, whatever, we loved , we hugged each other,” he said. “And then we went to prac- tice the next day, and we got to be on the field, and for two hours we got a chance to just breathe.”

At West Boca Raton on Friday night, Fitz-Gerald and the victims were honored in a pregame ceremony, and Fitz-Gerald threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch.

“They asked us to come out, and how can you say no? When they’re doing this for you, you know?” Fitz-Gerald said. “For me, being a baseball coach, no greater place I’d rather be than on a base- ball field.”

West Boca Raton made national headlines Tuesday when students walked off of campus and marched 12 miles to Douglas, kicking off a week of student activism that has seen as many as 50 South Florida schools walk- out to support Douglas and protest for stronger gun laws. “The community’s unbe- lievable,” Fitz-Gerald said. “What can you say? For what we’ve endured and what we’ve gone through. These guys, I think they walked (12) miles the other day to our school. That says something. That’s respect.” West Boca Raton coach Bobby Stallone said some of his junior varsity players participated in the walk. He said he’s talked to his players “a lot” about the shooting.

“We were actually out here on the practice field when (the shooting) was happening,” Stallone said. “Kids got emotional, their phones started going off and getting texts and different things. ... They took it pretty hard.”

The field at West Boca Raton had two red ribbons painted on the grass, and several players wore red paint on their faces. Fans from both schools coordinated to wear maroon — one of the Eagles’ colors — to the game.

“They’re our first neighbors to the south,” Stallone said.