‘It was total destruction’: Olentangy Berlin athletics weathers the storm
Friday, April 12, 2024
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
After the storms rolled through on March 14, the only thing left of the Olentangy Berlin bear statue in the stadium were the claws on its feet. The main scoreboard behind it also blew away. Photo: Kevin Rouch
When Mike Weaver woke up the morning of March 15, he wasn’t sure the text he got the previous night was real.
Weaver, who has led the Olentangy Berlin baseball program since the school opened in 2018, was sent a video around midnight from senior catcher Parker McDaniels that showed the damage of a tornado that had ripped through Delaware County on the night of March 14.
“We didn’t have power (at our house) and I was losing power on my phone,” Weaver said. “So, I set it next to me (in bed) and I fell asleep. It flashed at midnight, and I knew I had a text. I was out of it and kind of rolled over and picked up my phone and I had a text from Parker McDaniels.
“Somebody (went over to the school) and took a video. They were walking in our outfield. It was dark and I was half asleep and I could see those arborvitae trees, but he was standing in our center field. I could see them clear as day. And I remembered thinking, ‘That isn’t right. I shouldn’t be able to see those trees.'”
The trees are positioned behind the outfield wall on the varsity field.
“I put my phone down because it was at 3% and I went back to bed,” coach Weaver continued. “My wife woke me up at 5:30 or 5:45 the next morning and said school was canceled. I said, ‘Jen, I don’t know if I was dreaming, but I think something happened to our fields.’”
The concessions stand a Olentangy Berlin’s stadium took a hit from the wind on March 14. Part of the stand reopened for Bears’ events within days. Photo: Kevin Rouch
Mike stayed at home with his two kids while Jen took his phone to charge it in the car and went to the field to get pictures.
“By the time she got back, I had probably 260 text messages,” he said. “She took pictures and showed me. It was wiped out. It was total destruction. I ended up going over there that night … because I needed to see it. It’s Mother Nature. Being a new school, it’s over five years of work (and) in 20 minutes one night – the storm comes through and blows it away.”
The storm that came through that night registered as an EF1 according to the National Weather Service. Wind speeds topped out at 110 miles per hour. The tornado’s path was 35.6 and its width was 600 yards.
The stands behind home plate had been lifted and thrown through the backstop.
That wasn’t the only damage done to Berlin’s athletic fields. The varsity softball field and adjacent batting tunnel and the secondary baseball field wall and foul poles all took damage.
Debris created divots in the track and turf in the stadium. The school lost a storage shed by the baseball fields and suffered damage to another one between the stadium and the tennis courts. All five outdoor scoreboards were destroyed.
The claws were the only thing left on the platform that housed a bear statue inside the stadium and the top few rows of the stands were lifted out of their bolts. One of the bear eyes on the back of the press box had been ripped away.
Athletic director John Betz quipped it was in honor of principal Todd Spinner, who is leaving Berlin to become superintendent at Cardington-Lincoln.
Berlin Middle School’s gym roof was also damaged as well as the floor below. The school opened at the start of the year.
“There was only one way in and one way out (the morning after), which was from the west side on Berlin Station Rd. because all the wires were down,” Betz said. “It was probably a little worse than I expected. We’ll put it back together, but it’s going to take time. It’s a punch to the gut. I just thank God nobody was hurt.”
Fortunately, the tennis courts suffered minor damage to the wind screens, advertising and nets.
“Our maintenance crew has done an unbelievable job,” Betz said. “The cleanup they’ve done – you’d be like, ‘Oh, it looks like they can play.’ We are really close. Our maintenance people and our district people have worked their tails off getting it back together.”
The fence and better’s eye were shattered and the metal supports bent with the force of March 14’s major storm at Olentangy Berlin baseball field. Photo: Kevin Rouch
‘Playing it by ear’
Berlin’s track and field invitational on April 5 featured more yellow than the usual double blue. That’s because the meet was moved to rival Olentangy.
“It kind of stinks that we have to host it at a different school but we’re handling it pretty well,” said senior Madeline Franz, who finished third in the 100 meters at 13.22 seconds and the 200 at 27.76. “Everything is playing it by ear right now. So, communication is the biggest part. Just staying positive and working together – we can do anything together as a team.”
The Bears’ girls team won the event with 115 points, beating out Olentangy (110) and Mount Vernon (104). The boys team finished third with 99.5 points behind Olentangy (137) and Westerville Central (126).
The track at Berlin is covered in orange disks to cover the chunks that were taken out by flying hurdles, a wood training table and chunks of the scoreboard.
The training table, normally situated on the home sideline, ended up on the opposite side of the stadium next to the tennis courts.
Coach Anthony Beggrow found his high jump pads in a nearby neighborhood about a mile away. They, along with the hurdles and other equipment had been tethered down and locked earlier that night but were no match for Mother Nature.
“It wasn’t enough,” said Beggrow, who has led the program since the school opened before the 2019 season. “(The wind) still tore everything up and everything out. We got unlucky with it.”
Beggrow hopes they can host a dual meet for senior night later in the season but wasn’t sure it would happen.
“I know our maintenance (staff) is working hard to try to get everything squared away and put together for us,” Beggrow said. “It’s depending on when they can get our track patched.”
Olentangy Berlin’s Madeline Franz runs in the Berlin Invitational on April 5. The event was moved to Olentangy because of the storm damage to the Bears’ track. Photo: Michael Rich
‘We just have to get creative’
Softball coach Jenna Haskins had just raised enough money to have a hitting tunnel installed next to her varsity field. The storm ripped through it and left the metal poles bent in all different directions and the net ripped.
The varsity field suffered damage as well. So, the Bears are doing their best to make the junior varsity field feel like the varsity field.
“The fencing and some of the dugouts and (scoreboards) are what got really damaged,” said Haskins, who has led the program since the beginning. “My priority right now is to try and make the feeling of our varsity dugout over on the j.v. field. Just little things the girls love about being on varsity that sets them apart.
“We’ve got different signs inside the dugout. The girls have nameplates in varsity dugouts. It’s small things like a (public address) system that’s on our varsity side. We announce and they have walk-up songs and things. So, to create that varsity environment – we just have to get really creative in switching it over to the next field.”
Berlin opened the season over spring break in Alabama and have only played four games in the two weeks since returning home because of rain.
The Bears opened their home schedule on April 10 – a 14-4 win in five innings against Dublin Jerome to improve to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in OCC-Cardinal Division play.
“It’s definitely going to be different,” said senior Ava Kresak, who plays first base and outfield. “We’re all just glad to be able to play at home rather than go somewhere else. It was really hard at first, but going to spring break really helped us a lot.”
Olentangy Berlin first baseman Ava Kresak makes a play during the Bears’ game with Olentangy Orange at Olentangy High School. Photo: Kevin Rouch
‘It’s very personal to me’
It looked like a bad golfer left divots all over the turf, still evident on April 3 but was repaired in time for the boys lacrosse team’s first home game on April 4.
The Bears defeated Westerville North 12-3 that night and are using a temporary scoreboard situated on the track.
“It’s very personal to me because I live in the development right across the street,” second-year coach William Mathes said. “When the tornado came through – it hit the school and went right through our community. It hit my house and the community I live in pretty hard. It’s been a wild ride.”
Berlin is 5-0 overall and 1-0 in OCC-Cardinal play have played three home games so far as well as their next two against Beavercreek on April 13 and Olentangy on April 16.
“I can’t commend John Betz, our A.D., more,” Mathes said. “He was unbelievable. Everything was communicated.
“The players have adapted really well. We had to have meetings and talk about how a lot of stuff is going to change (this season). We had three games canceled or moved because of it. We couldn’t practice on the turf for two or two and half weeks because of it. We had to practice on the grass like the olden days. So, it’s been – for lack of better words – a storm that we’ve had to weather and we’re through it.”
The girls lacrosse team played its first home game on April 10 – an 11-10 victory over Hilliard Darby in league play. They lost at Hilliard Davidson 10-9 on April 11 – the first of three consecutive games on the road. The Bears, who are 2-4 overall and 1-0 in OCC-Cardinal play, don’t return home again until April 23 against Dublin Jerome.
The Olentangy Berlin boys lacrosse team got back on their field with a temporary scoreboard in a game with Westerville South April 6. Photo: Kevin Rouch
‘We’re just going to play away’
Bears baseball won all three games over spring break in the Florida panhandle to start the season. But it was a matchup with Whitehouse Anthony Wayne that brought an unexpected gift. The Generals program did a reverse raffle, and the winner donated the money back to the program and the players voted to donate it to Berlin.
“It was very gracious,” Weaver said. “There’s been so many people that have reached and want to help. (We’re) appreciative of it, but there’s not a whole lot to do.”
Bad weather since returning home has held Berlin to just four games and most of a fifth in the last two weeks. The Bears, who are 6-1 overall and 3-0 in OCC-Cardinal, hope to finish a suspended game at Jerome on April 14.
Weaver said the Bears could play on the secondary field, which hosts freshmen games normally. But the players voted to play on the road to not disturb the freshmen and junior varsity schedule.
“It’s sad because the last four years we’ve been building (our field) up,” McDaniels said. “That’s something we took pride in. We still have to play baseball. My initial thought was that we can’t dwell on it for too long. We’re just going to play away until we can get on a playable surface here and take care of business.”
Temporary fencing is being used on both the varsity and secondary outfield walls and the Bears could play home games once the backstop is fixed on the main field. Until then, Berlin will play scheduled home games on the road.
“Basically, if we’re supposed to be the home team, we’ll play as the home team,” Weaver said. “We’re paying for the umpires; we bring the baseballs – we’re just playing on their field.”
The storm winds removed half of the facing of the Olentangy Berlin stadium press box on March 14, creating a “winking bear” visage. Photo: Kevin Rouch