Gold Sox playing ball again in Marysville

A balmy evening, summer looming and the smell of frying food, well, frying. Why not play some baseball?

Except for a lack of sweat-stain heat, Yuba-Sutter could've been having any typical summer night Thursday, as the Marysville Gold Sox kicked off their season.

With a sizable, though not sellout, crowd, the rituals of a baseball game all played out: "Ice, Ice Baby" over the public address system, goofy tricycle races between innings and a vigorous cowbell for a home team base hit.

"You still get local baseball. And the kids are good," said Mary Buttacavoli, 48, of Yuba City, watching as her two grandsons hopped up and down a set of concrete stairs facing left field.

Since she and her husband had baby-sitting duty for the night, she said, they decided to try taking the preschool-age youngsters to see how they'd fare at a game. The verdict? "Well, the older one was watching for awhile," she said. "At this age, it's hard. But no tantrums."

Good moods could be seen most everywhere in the park, even at the grill next to the concession stand. There, Santiago Sierra plopped two fistfuls of hot dogs onto the heat, starting his sixth season as a meat maven.

"You get the tri-tip on there early and cook it slow, so it's juicy," he explained over two grills loaded with future concessions. "Then the sausages, and the burgers last."

Over the course of the season, he said, he'll only eat his own creations sparingly, not because he doesn't like them, but so as not to grow tired of them.

Staying engaged was also the reason behind fan Christopher Poole's activity, following every pitch and marking the game's progress on a score sheet from his seat above home plate.

Poole, 44, said he started scoring games as a kid, off San Francisco Giants games on the radio. Over time, he discovered it helped him track the game.

"On TV, they always tell you about the last couple of at-bats," he said. "Here, I can just look at those at-bats."

But Poole said his scoring the game shouldn't be confused with emotional distance. "Sometimes you get so into the game you realize, 'I forgot to keep count,'" he said with a smile.

Thursday, most fans just seemed happy to see baseball back in their backyard, after weeks of seeing the overpaid professional types playing on bigger stages in far-off places.

To wit: Gold Sox fans cheered every player introduction. They cheered the American flag, as long as a bowling lane and twice as wide, when airmen from Beale Air Force Base walked it into right field. They cheered when a strikeout of a particular Redding Colt .45 player meant $3 draft beers for 10 minutes.

Even if it's not the majors, Carolyn MacLean of Marysville said, there's the possibility of a Gold Sox player making the majors someday.

She and her husband attend every opening day, closing day, and a handful of games in between.

"It's exciting," she said. "I love the atmosphere, you see friends, the food. It's all great."

CONTACT reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4786.