High school player’s tribute to deceased mom: No-hitter, four home runs

By his own admission, Jaydin Goldenstein wasn’t that close to his mom when she was alive. She was a drug addict and spent time in jail and at a halfway house, and the two had a turbulent relationship. But he was at her bedside when she died, and the Holyoke (Colo.) High School baseball player decided to play his next game in her honor. Wow, what a game it was.

In a doubleheader against Wray High — just two days after his mother’s death — Goldenstein threw a no-hitter to lead his team to an 11-0 win in the first game, then hit four home runs in the second game during a 15-8 triumph.

Great story here by Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post, which includes a video.

First game:

“The first inning was like — boom, boom, boom,” shortstop Reid Baumgartner said. “By the third inning, I was like, no one’s going to hit him.”

Things got tense in the dugout after that inning, though, when catcher Jesus Hermosillo blurted out, “Man, he might pitch a no-hitter!” But nothing could jinx it.

Game two:

In game one, Jaydin hadn’t gotten a hit. In his first at-bat of game two, he had two strikes on him.

Then, PING!

The ball sailed toward the center-field fence.

“I knew it was out,” said Jaydin, a right-handed hitter.

In his next two at-bats, he homered to right, then to left.

“Normally I don’t think about hitting a home run,” said Jaydin, who once before had hit two home runs in a game. “But after the third, I was like — I’m going to try to hit a home run.”

The moment Reid heard contact, he didn’t even watch the ball. He just started jogging to home plate from the dugout to wait for his teammate circling the bases.

The fourth home run was the stuff of legend around here. Coach Bules estimated it traveled well over 400 feet. It might still be in the air. It cleared the center-field fence, a street, a ditch and a creek.

As Jaydin rounded third and saw his teammates, he tried not to smile, which only made him smile wider as he reached home.

Jaydin drove in seven runs, the difference in a 15-8 victory.

Have to stop typing now: difficult to see the keyboard. Darned allergies.

***
Holyoke boy finds solace in baseball after estranged mother’s death [Denver Post]