In his first season with the Windy City ThunderBolts, infielder Junior Martina is a great distance from his dwelling in South Holland.
No, not the one within the south suburbs about 10 miles from the T-Bolts’ dwelling at Ozinga Field in Crestwood. Martina lives in Voorschoten, South Holland, within the Netherlands.
“Baseball has taken me a lot of places around the world,” Martina stated. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Martina bought in on the enjoyable Tuesday because the T-Bolts hosted a brand new occasion — the Frontier League abilities competitors, held a day earlier than the league’s All-Star Game.
Martina participated within the precision hitting contest. Batters needed to hit 4 targets across the subject earlier than capping it off by hitting a pitch into heart subject for a teammate to catch, stopping the clock within the timed competitors.
Martina accomplished the problem in 2 minutes, 10 seconds however completed final among the many 4 opponents. Craig Massey of the Florence Y’alls gained the occasion with instances of 1:20 within the first spherical and 53 seconds within the finals.
For the talents competitors, which featured 5 occasions, All-Star gamers had been positioned on 4 groups, with every representing a neighborhood nonprofit. The staff representing the Trinity Christian College athletic division was victorious over groups supporting the Bremen High School band, the Do It Stevie’s Way Foundation and the Special Recreation Athletic Support Association.
Martina and T-Bolts teammate Bren Spillane had been on the Do It Stevie’s Way staff, and Martina is thrilled to be an All-Star in his first season in Crestwood.
Despite being launched by the Washington Nationals final summer season following 4 seasons of their group, Martina will not be giving up on his dream.
“The grind is still there, the hunger is still there,” Martina stated. “I’m facing really good players. I don’t feel like I’m in a different league or anything. Everyone is competing. We’re grown men going at it.”
Martina was born in Curacao — a Netherlands territory within the Caribbean — and hung out rising up there and within the Netherlands.
He has performed for the Netherlands nationwide staff, profitable a gold medal within the 2021 European Championships.
“Playing for the Dutch team has been great,” Martina stated. “It’s helped me with publicity, and it’s been nice to get to characterize the nation. We’ve gone plenty of locations.
“In September, I’ll be in the Czech Republic for the Euro Cup. I’m excited to finish the season strong here and then head off with the Dutch guys.”
Small ball: Chase Dawson of the Schaumburg Boomers — a local of Chesterton, Indiana, and a Valparaiso University graduate — gained the night time’s first occasion, the bunting derby.
“Bunting is a big part of my game,” Dawson stated. “I had to show it off a little bit. We’ve got to bring that back to the game of baseball.”
Rusber Estrada of the New Jersey Jackals gained the catcher throwing competitors whereas Chris Kwitzer of the New York Boulders gained the outfielder throwing contest.
Long balls: Ozinga Field has turn out to be a notoriously tough place to hit a house run, however the Gateway Grizzlies’ Pete Zimmerman managed to take 11 balls over the wall within the first spherical of the Home Run Derby earlier than falling 8-7 to the Jackals’ Josh Rehwaldt in a swing-off within the finals.
Spillane, the T-Bolts’ hometown hero, hit 5 homers within the first spherical to complete third.
“It was weird because when I was up there hitting, you can’t really see if it goes over,” Spillane stated. “On these first six or so swings, I assumed I used to be hitting them over. I used to be like, ‘That’s how arduous I must hit it.’ Then I took my first timeout and so they stated I’d solely hit one. I used to be like ‘What?’
“It was a blast, though.”
Steve Millar is a contract reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com