Warmer temperatures and blooming flowers are common signs of spring. But with the spring season, baseball season also arrives! For the Houston Astros, opening day will not be until April. Our Rice Owls have started their baseball season already, though, and were matched up in a three-game series against Harvard on the last weekend of February.
This exciting event gave our ESL students the perfect opportunity to watch America’s game just minutes away from our building, the Anderson-Clarke Center! At 5:00 PM, students returned to campus for some dinner before the game.
For the pre-game snack, students enjoyed slices of cheese and pepperoni pizza and had some sodas to drink. It was a nice way to prepare for the game later that evening and for the students to come together as a group.
After dinner, the students and teachers walked about five minutes to reach Reckling Park, the stadium where the Rice Baseball team plays its home games. As the sun set, the lights were turned on and the game began!
The Rice Owls began the game very well, hitting several home runs in the first few innings. The students watched in awe as each ball flew out of the park and the Rice players rounded all the bases to score.
Harvard put up a fight, scoring several runs (points) as well, but Rice kept scoring throughout the entire game, always staying ahead of Harvard. It was a very competitive and exciting game, and some students who were familiar with baseball rules helped to explain what was happening to the others.
At the end of the night, the Rice Owls came out as winners, beating Harvard 11-7. Rice also won the three-game series, winning the games on Saturday and Sunday, too, to sweep Harvard. All the students had a wonderful time watching the game!
At the end of the night, students said their goodbyes and went home for the evening. This was the last social activity of the winter session, so it was also a great send-off for some students who were returning to their home countries.
Thank you for reading this social activity recap on our blog. We’ll have more to come in our spring session for our ESL students in the next few weeks!
By Hadrian Barbosa