A jawsome time: Gatemen host shark night
10-year-old Tommy Flynn left, Hunter Flynn, 5, and Mason Flynn 7 pose with their sharks.
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy table with Kristen and Zach Smith
Spillane Field at the shark-themed game.
Greg Skomal teaching kids about sharks.
Al and Pam Blanchard of Plymouth manning the donation table.
10-year-old Tommy Flynn left, Hunter Flynn, 5, and Mason Flynn 7 pose with their sharks.
The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy table with Kristen and Zach Smith
Spillane Field at the shark-themed game.
Greg Skomal teaching kids about sharks.
Al and Pam Blanchard of Plymouth manning the donation table.
The only sharks in sea-son at Spillane Field were the fluffy stuffed animals held by fans as they waited for their favorite players to step up to bat.
On Sunday, June 27, the Wareham Gatemen held Shark Night in a game against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Shark Expert and Senior Fisheries Biologist Dr. Greg Skomal threw the first pitch and educated fans about sharks.
Skomal described his research like how he and his team use a plane to track sharks in order to tag them.
“The plane looks for sharks while they’re hunting in the shallow water. He tells us where they are and our boat can go up to those sharks. I’ll go out to the bow of the boat and I’ll place a tag using a really long tagging pole," he said.
After sharing some deep sea facts and answering questions, Skomal urged Wareham residents not to worry.
“If you live in Wareham, you don’t have to worry about the presence of sharks in our waters,” he said.
Despite Skomal telling Warehamites not to fear sharks in the area, many were still afraid.
“I don’t know if I’m going in the ocean again,” said Tom Crane, Executive Board Member for the Wareham Gatemen.
Crane had a lot of hope for the Gatemen, believing Shark Night would be an easy win.
“Oh, we’re going to win. We’re on a roll right now…Two weeks ago we were in last place. Now, we’re in first place by six points,” he said.
While the Gatemen were focused on striking out the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, fans watching the game enjoyed time with loved ones.
Philliper Dorman, of Australia, flew across the globe to spend time with her son and her grandchildren. She flew in Tuesday and heard about the league through her son, she said.
“Mark mentioned that the Cape hosts talented students to play and we decided we’d love getting to see them play,” she explained.
“We grew up watching cricket. Now, we’re getting into baseball," said Phillper’s son Mark.
Though Philliper Dorman was getting her feet wet in the game of baseball, she is no stranger to sharks.
“We love sharks,” she said.
Mark’s children 5-year-old Phoebe and 6-year-old Wesley are both fans of sharks and baseball, as they are T-ball players themselves.
While Wesley said he liked great white sharks, Phoebe said her favorite are tiger sharks.
Though the Gatemen hold first place in the West Division of the Cape Cod Baseball League, the team couldn’t sea-ze the win and lost by a single home run. The final score was 1 to 2.
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