By Marc Anthony Martinez
Baseball is a passion and desire for David Morales, pitcher for the East Los Angeles College baseball team.
He grew up playing as a little kid and would talk with his dad about the game for hours and was something they connected with.
After his win against Palomar on May 6, which helped the baseball team advance to the super regionals, he talked to his dad who was proud. On May 7 his dad passed away.
“It was really hard to show up for practices and especially games for that matter,” Morales said about having to prepare for the next round of the playoffs.
Making his dad proud and playing hard is how he was able to keep going to practice and finish what would be ELAC’s last two games of the season.
He also couldn’t have done it without the support of his teammates who have been with him for the past three years, because of COVID-19 they were able to play an extra year.
He made a lot of friends out of his teammates.
“He’s always positive and is doing his best to keep other guys’ heads up, he’s a competitor out on the mound,” Morales’ teammate Francisco Dominguez, another Huskies pitcher, said.
Not knowing if the game against Fullerton College would be his last, Morales knew that whatever the outcome was his dad was still going to be proud of him and his journey with baseball.
His girlfriend Zoe Zarco said, “Baseball just wasn’t a sport to David, it was something that he loved to do and looked forward to doing every day.
“No matter how many practices or how early he had to wake up in the morning.”
He’s unsure if he will continue to play baseball once he transfers to Hope International University in Fullerton.
He plans to major in kinesiology and sports therapy so he can help future athletes heal.
His interest in becoming a therapist came from an injury he had on his arm from pitching and realized it was something he wanted to do.
Morales said the coaches at ELAC helped him find himself because they helped him when he needed it, and they made it feel like a family.
After three years on the team, his last game was on Friday. The baseball team lost to Fullerton in the super regionals 8-4 where he pitched three innings and struck out four batters.
He kept getting ahead of the counts and walked three batters.
They kept hitting his pitches and he had to count on his defense to help him get out of the innings trusting in them as he did all season long.
This season he pitched seven complete games and one shutout game.
He had a total of 51 strikeouts and gave up 37 walks. With his most memorable game being when they beat Palomar with their backs against the wall on the brink of elimination.