The baseball field at Pine Forest High is unplayable, damaged by a category F-1 tornado on April 10 that tore through the school’s campus and Bellview area.
The past two home games had to become road games at Booker T. Washington and Milton. The Eagles' final home game, a farewell to five seniors, was headed for the same fate.
But the Blue Wahoos have stepped up to make it right.
Pine Forest will play its senior day game on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Blue Wahoos Stadium against Lighthouse Private Christian Academy. The seniors will be honored, both teams will line the baseline and it will become a special memory for an Eagles team that has endured plenty of hardship.
“We’re just so thankful the Blue Wahoos are doing this,” said Eagles head coach Marty Lister, a former Cincinnati Reds draft pick and six-year professional player, who is now in his first season at Pine Forest.
“My kids will be overwhelmed,” Lister said. “They will walk in (on Monday) and go, ‘Whoa!’ Because they have never seen a field like that.”
When Blue Wahoos team president Jonathan Griffith learned of the Eagles plight, he offered the stadium as a place for Monday’s game. In working with Blue Wahoos events manager Shannon Hannah, the logistical elements were worked out for Monday.
It will happen between two sets of home series’ for the Blue Wahoos, who concluded the first of back-to-back homestands on Sunday against the Rocket City Trash Pandas, the Los Angeles Angels' affiliate.
On Tuesday, the Blue Wahoos will begin six home games against the Biloxi Shuckers, the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate.
“This just falls in line with our main mission to improve the quality of life for everyone in our community,” Griffith said. “It worked out where we could do this and knowing what (Pine Forest) went through, this is something we’re happy to do.”
Pine Forest (5-17) has gone through a tough season, compounded by the tornado damage. In playing Lighthouse Christian (9-8), the game at a memorable venue will be an experience that Lister hopes can build for the future.
In 2019, the Eagles reached the Class 7A region final, led in part by pitcher T.K. Roby, who is now the No. 3-rated prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
“I just got this job in September,” said Lister, who took the Northview High Chiefs to the 2015 Florida Class 1A state semifinal game – then the Chiefs' first trip to that stage. “We lost 11 seniors from last year and we had six other players transfer out.
I am trying to build this back up. I’m playing three freshmen, two sophomores, a couple of juniors and two of my five seniors (in starting lineup). So we are very, very young.”
When the dangerous weather passed on April 10, Lister and others returned to the Pine Forest campus and went to Clyde McSwain Memorial Stadium, he found the backstop a mangled mess.
The nearby softball field had its outfield fence flattened and two 8,000-pound containers that were storing materials for a rebuild of Lon Wise Stadium, along with the track surface around the football field, were deposited about 100 yards away.
That is the power of an F-1 tornado.
“Man, it was wild,” he said. “(The tornado) basically just lifted those 8,000-pound containers and just tossed them into the woods. It tore out backstop to where it is completely blown out and we had one of our portables where we have storage, just flipped it on its side.
“I am just so glad we weren’t here, because we would have been right in the middle of it.”
The portable classroom Lister teaches was also wrecked beyond use. Same with other portable areas.
But no one was hurt. Lister is grateful that Keith Leonard, the Escambia County Schools superintendent, announced the previous day that classes were going to be canceled across the entire county.
“I know sometimes people question decisions on closing schools,” Lister said. “But man, you never know what the weather is going to do.
“That tornado touched down a couple blocks over from our school, went right through Bellview, went up a street and went right up through Pine Forest and came right across through the woods,: Lister said. "If we would have been in school that day, or trying to get out, oh man, don’t want to think about it.”
The only hardship was Lister knew his field could not be used the rest of the season for a game. But on Monday, no matter the game’s outcome, both teams will now have a special experience to remember.
“I’m thinking, I have no place to play. If we could get the Blue Wahoos to agree, it would be such a great treat for the boys. They would never forget it. And it would be something good," Lister said.
“It’s just so fortunate the Blue Wahoos are not playing Monday.”
WANT TO GO?
WHO: Lighthouse Private Christian Academy Stingrays (9-8) vs. Pine Forest Eagles (5-17)
WHEN: Monday, 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Blue Wahoos Stadium
TICKETS: $8, available on GoFan App and at Blue Wahoos Stadium (QR code at gate or box office. Reminder, stadium is a cashless venue for tickets and concessions).
FOOD-BEVERAGE: Available in a limited menu at Bubba’s Sand Trap behind home plate on second-level concourse.
Bill Vilona is a retired Pensacola News Journal sports columnist and now senior writer for Pensacola Blue Wahoos. He can be reached at bvilona@bluewahoos.com
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