Coming off a basketball season in which he received first team All-State recognition, Santa Barbara High’s Bryce Warrecker seemed destined to wrap up his senior year with further glory on the baseball diamond. The 6′8″ pitcher and first baseman won his first two starts on the mound and was banging out line drives at the plate.
The season abruptly ended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the aspirations of millions of high school and college athletes slid into desolation. There were no spring championships to celebrate, no records to be set. Warrecker was left hoping he would pitch again in 2021 at Cal Poly, which had proffered him a baseball scholarship.
But then, against all odds, along came the Santa Barbara Foresters, as proud a baseball organization as could be found anywhere. They had been playing every year since 1991, and even though the California Collegiate League had suspended operations, Foresters manager Bill Pintard and team president Christina Songer were determined to play ball this summer. They pieced together a month-long schedule against visiting independent teams from around the state — including a dozen contests with a club representing Pea Soup Andersen’s — and made an agreement with the city to use Pershing Park under strict conditions. No fans were allowed inside the gates, and players and staff wore masks off the field.
