Sports

At the age of five, Scott Ritter would play catch with his father and brother in the park. Within 12 years, Ritter would earn the starting catcher job for the Stuyvesant Hitmen, the boys’ varsity baseball team, during his junior year.

Ritter, co-captain of the Hitmen, has been playing America’s favorite pastime for just about his whole life. He received his first glove at the age of five, from one of his brother’s friends. “My dad and my brother were playing catch, and one of my brother’s friends had used up his glove and had given it to me,” Ritter said. “That was my first mitt—I grew up using it.”

Ritter had played baseball in his local little league for six years. In little league, he was both a pitcher and catcher, although he preferred pitching. When he was about nine or 10, however, he went to a baseball camp where he played catcher a majority of the time. “That’s when I fell in love with it,” he said. He believes his personality is well suited for the unique and relatively unpopular position. “Who else would sit behind the plate while someone throws you 90 mile per hour fastballs?” He also enjoys the pressure and responsibility that comes with the position. “The catcher’s in charge of the game,” he said. “I love that feeling. Everything rests on you: you’re the stopper.”

Ritter continued to play catcher and enjoy the game overall, so the decision to play baseball in high school was a no-brainer. “When I was looking for high schools throughout the city, I was looking for a school with a baseball team. I doubt I would have gone to a school without a team, because that was important for me,” Ritter said. When it came time to choose a high school, Stuyvesant was a place where he could see himself fit in.

During his freshman year, he instinctively tried out for the junior varsity baseball team. “It was hardly even a decision for me. The only question was what position would I play?” Ritter said.

Ritter, along with junior Zachary Karson, senior Mark Chiusano and senior Brian Schatz, was given the position of co-captain earlier this spring. “We picked guys that have shown leadership. Someone that’s always there, and can tell the younger classmen what they need to do,” head coach John Carlesi said.

“It’s an honor to be a captain, although it also means taking on many responsibilities, taking care of the entire team,” Ritter said.

Responsibilities for being captain include demonstrating leadership, being ready for practice everyday and being available to underclassmen for advice.

As a captain, Scott is known to be a leader on the field. “Scott is the kind of guy that will be coolheaded and talk to the guys after a poor outing,” Carlesi said.

“Scott is just a natural leader,” Karson said. “Even when he’s down, he keeps everyone in good spirits. He has a passion for the game that you just have to respect.”

Despite being a captain, Scott considers his teammates as peers and describes his relationship with them as mutual. “I also get advice from teammates. Once I had a teammate come up to me and say, ‘You know Scott, you might be able to improve your throw’,” Ritter said. “We then watched some tape and went over my throw.”

When the time came to apply to college, Ritter applied to eight different schools. “At the end of [my college] process, there were three schools: New York University (NYU), Northwestern University and the University of Southern California (USC).”

Because he wanted to get out of the city, Ritter’s choice was mainly between USC and Northwestern. In the end, he decided to attend Northwestern along with his fellow captain, Schatz. “I just liked the atmosphere at Northwestern better. I felt that if I were going to Northwestern, I would have more of an opportunity to play baseball than at USC,” Ritter said.

At Northwestern University, Ritter plans to major in film. He also is planning to play club baseball during his freshman year in college, and possibly try out for the Division I varsity team his sophomore year.

For the moment, however, his focus is on the Hitmen’s current season. Despite starting off the season 6-0, the Hitmen have gone on an eight game slide. It has been a tough season for Ritter, who was diagnosed with elbow tendonitis in the middle of the year. As a result, he couldn’t play catcher and has been forced to play designated hitter, which he has been somewhat disappointed about. “You want it to be a good year, but then the season kind of vanishes in a way,” he said.

The Hitmen have two games remaining in the season against Beacon High School, who Ritter described as their division rival. They must win both of them in order to make the playoffs. According to Ritter, the Hitmen have not gotten the big hits they needed this year. The team is counting on Ritter, who hit a game winning double to clinch a playoff spot for the Hitmen last season. Ritter is confident that he, as well as the rest of the team, will be able to come through.

“We get stuff done when we need to get stuff done,” he said.