High school players are closer than ever now. It's not like the old days when your opponents were your sworn enemies.
Gone are the days when Serra baseball star Gregg Jefferies, the former major leaguer, once car-pooled with a St. Ignatius player to a game in San Mateo and then left his friendly foe at the ballpark when SI won the game.
Nowadays teens from all over compete on the same travel ball teams and associate freely after games and on social media forums like Facebook and Twitter.
After Thursday night's crazy Carlmont vs. Leland softball game -- won by Leland 8-7 in eight innings -- Leland star Holly Geranen was seemingly everyone's best bud, posing for one picture with Carlmont players Shawna McDonough and Taylor Yzaguirre and for another with Live Oak player Bre Sabala, who toted a sign to the ballpark to support Geranen and the Chargers.
"A lot of the girls from Carlmont and Leland play for the San Jose Sting so they know each other," Willow Glen star Frankie Perales said. "I also play for the Sting, so I know girls like Kaylana Mah from Gilroy and Holly (Geranen) from Leland and Shawna McDonough and Rebecca Faulkner from Carlmont."
Said Homestead baseball coach Chuck Blair: "Travel ball has kind of taken over and lots of times these kids spend more time with each other on travel ball teams than on their high school teams.
"Just about every game we play there are four or five of our kids who know four or five kids on the other team. Sometimes if they're talking to each other or laughing during the middle of the game it can be a little confusing (for coaches). But it's adapt or die. Times change and if they want to take pictures with each other or hang out after the game together, it's fine with me."
Gregg Jefferies might not approve, but it's the way things are in 2013.
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John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@Prep2Prep.com and followed on Twitter @PrepCat
