Licking County graduates trapping final days of baseball as travel season comes to end

LEWIS CENTER — Cole and Chase Massie were chirping at each other as they jogged off the baseball diamond between innings.

It is the type of good-natured bickering between the twin brothers that carried over from the backyard to the playing fields for most of their lives. It came to a bittersweet end this weekend.

“It’s been weird but fun. It’s kind of sad, but we are just trying to enjoy it while it lasts,” Cole Massie said following a 5-3 victory for his Suburban Columbus Trappers against the Ohio Elite Burkhart at Olentangy in an 18u runner-up bracket game during the Buckeye Elite.

Cole and Chase were three-sport standouts at Watkins Memorial, playing soccer and basketball as well, and neither will be competing at the college level.

The issue at hand Saturday was a ball that bounced over the head of Cole on the mound and was not able to be fielded by Chase in time. All’s well that ended well as Cole threw a strong six innings, allowing just one earned run.

Chase threw six innings in the Trappers’ previous 6-5 comeback victory against the Mid-Ohio Bullets. Their long-time Watkins catcher Andrew Botts guided them through trouble.

“Andrew’s caught me for almost a decade probably,” Cole Massie said. “He does a good job at it, so it’s pretty easy. I just listen to him.”

The SC Trappers and the Licking County Cyclones merged for this summer, uniting seven Licking County players, including five from Watkins.

The SC Trappers finished with a bang, winning two more games Sunday. They beat Bo Jackson Elite Nehls 3-2 and Canes Montgomery 7-3 to win their bracket and complete the summer with a 27-10-1 mark.

“It’s been good to bring people back you have chemistry with,” Cole Massie said. “You know you can trust them and enjoy the time you get to play with them. It’s fun.”

Ethan Ryan, who finished his freshman season at Hiram College, is the veteran, recording three hits in the two victories Saturday and hitting better than .400 for the season. He was reunited with the Massie twins, Botts and Braiden Bates, who each wrapped up their time with the Warriors in May.

“(The merger) was a great opportunity and has made us contenders in every single tournament,” Ryan said. “It really has been more fun than anything though.”

Licking Valley’s Aidan Harrold added two hits and a run on a Bates RBI single against Ohio Elite, and Cole Massie tripled to set up a run. Newark Catholic’s Troy Johnston recorded two runs and an RBI against the Bullets.

Pickerington Central’s Jake Soha drove in three runs in the first win, and fellow Tiger Ryan Long threw a scoreless seventh inning in each game to pick up two saves.

“We have a really good bond off the field because all of us are friends, so it definitely helps on the field,” Harrold said. “I am just trying to give it my all until I don’t have anything left to give.”

The Trappers were attempting to soak up one final weekend in the hot sun. Enjoying the present was the only way to avoid thinking about the future.

“The whole season I didn’t really think about it until this weekend,” Cole Massie said. “When you get on the mound, it hits hard a little bit.”

ksnyder@newarkadvocate.com

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Licking County graduates trapping final days of baseball as travel season comes to end