Westmont come together to Honor former Westmont standout Charlie Donovan with video

The game was played in honor of former Westmont player Charlie Donovan, who died last fall. Players on both teams wore jerseys adorned with Donovan’s No. The game was played in honor of Donovan who died last fall. Donovan’s older brother Charlie Donovan,wholesale jerseys https://www.cheapjerseysbyw2.top who died in November of 2015, was honored in a pregame ceremony.

While the rivalry on the field is very competitive there is also mutual respect and compassion on both sides, which was clearly evident when the Sentinels and Lions met on April 19.

The game was played in honor of Charlie Donovan, a 2015 Westmont graduate who died in November of that year. Almost immediately after he heard about Donovan’s death, Lisle head coach Pete Meyer started thinking of how he could honor the memory of a special person and superlative baseball talent.

“I knew we needed to recognize Charlie, it’s so hard not to, I just wasn’t sure how,” Meyer said. “We talked to the Donovans and told them we didn’t want to do something that’s going to be uncomfortable for them; we want to do this right.”

What Meyer devised was a pregame ceremony during which he spoke fondly about the kind of person and player Donovan was and the baseball bond they formed.

“I was 100 percent honest when I said that, to me, Charlie was like one of our own,” Meyer said.

(View a photo gallery of the game here.)

Both teams wore special jerseys for the game, Lisle in green (Donovan’s favorite color) and Westmont in its traditional burgundy. Every player wore jerseys with Donovan’s No. 0 on them, and the starting lineups and bench players were announced before both teams gathered at Donovan’s spot at shortstop for a group photo.

For Westmont junior catcher Joe Donovan, the ceremony surrounding the game was a touching way to honor the memory of his older brother.

“I knew how it was going to go down and I was extremely touched,” Donovan said. “Both the coaches from Lisle are class acts and I was really honored by it.

“It meant a lot because I know both of the [Lisle] coaches pretty well and they’re really good guys. Just to know how much thought and effort they put into it means a lot.”

The Lions and Sentinels met 10 times while Charlie Donovan played at Westmont, two times in each regular season from 2012 to 2015, and once in the playoffs in 2012 and 2015.?/p>On the field the two teams relish defeating each other. The ceremony on April 19 showed that, off the field, the two programs and the communities that support them have nothing but respect for each other.

“It makes total sense with the rivalry. Nobody besides us has seen Charlie play more than Lisle, so for them to do that is an honor and a tribute,” Westmont head coach DJ Cocks said. “We as a program are completely touched by it.

“They’ve always been there for us, and to step up do that for the Donovans and the Westmont baseball family is very classy.”

After the pregame tribute, the Sentinels and Lions got down to the business of baseball. Westmont picked up its first Interstate Eight Conference win by scoring six runs in the top of the seventh inning for an 8 3 victory.

Jackson Fischer went 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs for Westmont, and also pitched a complete game for the win. Joe Donovan was 1 for 2 with two walks and two runs scored. Mark McGrath and Max Sokolowski each went 2 for 4 with a run scored for Lisle, and Trevor Stitt walked and scored in the seventh.

“It’s always good to get a win,” Joe Donovan said. “I don’t distinguish between conference and outside games because I try to play every game to its fullest, but it’s always good to get a win and especially against a conference team.”