America’s pastime returned to Kenai’s Coral Seymour Memorial Park last week after a yearlong hiatus. The Peninsula Oilers triumphed over the Anchorage Glacier Pilots in a victorious opening night for Kenai’s Alaska Baseball Club team.
Under a shining sun, the crack of a bat, burgers on the grill and bleachers full of fans heralded the return of the Peninsula Oilers on Wednesday.
A line stretched out to the parking lot as a Kenai Little League player threw the opening pitch. Oilers mascot Scoop was greeting attendees. At the end of the first inning, the Oilers had the lead.
Among the hundreds of fans in Oilers swag, Roy Stonecipher stuck out. He was sitting in the beer garden with a sign that read, “Welcome home Oilers, we missed you!”
“I’m just a big Oilers fan, I really missed them last year, so I’m glad they’re back,” he said.
The Oilers sat out last season due to financial hardship. The team had more debt than it could afford to pay off, and spent the hiatus trying to get out of the hole.
Stonecipher said he’s been coming to games “forever.” He said he’s happy to see the team back on the field, and wanted “to just show my support. To say ‘Hey guys, welcome back, we’re glad you’re here. The communities love you, and we support you.”
As the sun started to set, some people started to head home. But a devoted cohort stayed late into the evening as the Oilers worked to fend off the Glacier Pilots. The Oilers were up by one point at the top of the seventh. The pressure was on to keep the visiting team from notching another run.
The final score is six to five, the Oilers take it. The players ran back to the dug out for high fives; where a swarm of kids waited to collect autographs.
Opening night was one of firsts for all the Oilers players and the team’s new head coach Dave Dawson. He said the team’s year off gave them extra time to build their roster. And the energy from everyone who came to root for the home team helped with opening night jitters.
“The crowd was phenomenal, and I think we can keep getting bigger and bigger,” Dawson said. “We’re gonna play some good baseball this summer, it’d be great to see everybody come out.”
Nate Ramirez is a pitcher for the Oilers and hails from Arizona. He was on the mound for the later innings and felt the pressure of keeping the opposing team from picking up runs. He said the energy of opening night is “absolutely electric.”
“Everybody was fired up,” he said. “It just made it a lot more comfortable to come here and settle in, knowing that everybody’s behind you.”
The Oilers went on to win four of the five games of their series against the Glacier Pilots. They’ll return to Coral Seymour Park at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They go on the road next week, but they’ll be back in Kenai for an exhibition match on the Fourth of July, also at 6:30 p.m. A full schedule of games can be found at oilersbaseball.com.
