The City of Gordon is still cleaning up from Sunday's tornado.
Some of the people pitching in included members of Gordon's high school baseball team.
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WATCH HERE“There are things far more important than the game of baseball,” Gordon Baseball Coach Ligon West said. “They truly showed that on yesterday and Monday, especially. You couldn’t go around town without seeing our athletes, not just baseball, football, basketball kids, they were helping out where needed.”
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SIGN UP The coach is proud of his players, but he also has to keep them focused. They have a regional finals game on Thursday.
“The biggest challenge is keeping these kids from wearing themselves out too much,” West said. “On Monday, they started at sunup and didn’t stop until the sun was down.”
He hopes baseball can be a distraction from the damage. Weatherford ISD provided them with a place to practice. But still, home is on their minds.
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“It’s definitely hard to focus on baseball with everything going on,” Gordon ISD junior and baseball player Aiden Shank said. “I think our mindset is that we are going to stick together through this and as a community and as a team. No matter what, God will prevail in this time.”
There has been help offered from neighboring cities. Even the Texas Rangers donated equipment to the team to replace what was lost in the storm.
Players say all the compassion shown to them gives them the incentive to do one final thing.
“Win,” Gordon ISD senior and baseball player Landon McDonald said. “We know it’s tough going through a tornado and everything we are going through, but we are this close to making it to state. We can’t stop now.”
Other teammates shared the same thought.
“All that support and now the question of what are we going to do now,” Gordon ISD junior and baseball player Stryker Reed said. “What are we going to do with all this now and how are we going to make it back up to them and I think the only way to do that is to win.”
The Gordon High School Longhorns take on the Perrin Whitt Pirates in a three-game Regional Finals series at Stephenville High School at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
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