By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The Crestline Highlanders of the Southern California Vintage Base Ball League held their third game of the season facing off against the Dear Bros of Temecula. They played at Harich Field in Twin Peaks, which is known in the league as the home run stadium of the league. When the expensive handmade base balls used by the vintage league go over the wall of the outfield and get lost in the forest, they are rarely retrieved.
The 2025 Crestline Highlanders Vintage Base Ball team.
“Glovebox,” the Highlanders coach, was excited and anxious about this game as their previous game against the Riverside Smudgepots had been won at the last out of the last inning. The first three games of the season have been played at Harich Field.
“Ace” was pitching in the top of the first inning with Temecula up to bat; there no was score. However, when the Highlanders came up to bat at the bottom of the first, they scored eight runs including a grand slam home run by “Sensei” Robert Otey. (The players always play under their nicknames, part of the vintage base ball tradition.)
Then the Highlanders carefully played a defensive game, making very few errors and scoring every inning, including two more home runs in the game, one by “Slider” and the other by “Ripper.”
The Dear Bros scored their first run in the third inning and then scored in every inning with “Hoss” pitching with the exception of the sixth inning. The score at the bottom of the sixth was 4-20 but finally the bats of the Dear Bros were warmed up and they began to hit. They scored five runs in the exciting top of the seventh inning, but it was too late for them as they were so far behind. The final score of the game was a respectable 9 to 20, with the Highlanders winning the last game of the season to be played at Harich Field.
The game was exciting for the good crowd in the bleachers, nicknamed the “Cranks.” Watching the game, which is played under the 1886 vintage base ball rules, and enjoying America’s pastime as it was played in 1886, is a unique thrill for the area. The Highlanders, who are sponsored by the Crestline Chamber of Commerce, are currently in second place in the entire So Cal Vintage Base Ball League.
The scoreboard of the Highlanders win over the Temecula Dear Bros in a game played at Harich Field on Aug. 16.
The Highlanders have been one of the top teams in the league for the past few years, holding back-to-back championships and another year losing the championship to the Smudgepots in the final inning of the final championship game.
The next game for the Highlanders will be on the road on Sept. 6 against the Riverside Smudgepots, playing in Riverside. Then they will play the Fullerton Fire Knockers team on Sept. 20 in Fullerton. On Oct. 4 will play their last game of the regular season against the Perris Prospectors team in Perris.
The Highlanders are hoping the heat will not be too oppressive for these final three season games. In previous years the league had tried to schedule the August and September games in the mountains as it is usually cooler here, but that didn’t work out in the schedule this season.
Keep up to date on their season on the Highlander’s Facebook page: Crestline Highlanders Vintage Base Ball.
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