High Schools - Kennedy-Kenrick's Walker finally gets his swings against Archbishop Carroll

Oops. Bad choice of phrases. Sometimes it is a walk in the park, literally, and that's not even close to fun.

Say hello to Christian "Ya-Ya" Walker, a 6-1, 215-pound junior third baseman for Kennedy-Kenrick High. You may wave to him, too, just so you're not ordering him to take first base.

Imagine being a basketball star and having to go through an entire game without ever getting a chance to shoot. Not even the best box-and-one in world history could make that happen.

But when K-K visited archrival Archbishop Carroll - and its infamous bandbox - 3 days ago for a Catholic Blue contest, Walker could have buried his bat and strolled to the plate carrying a toothbrush. Or nothing at all.

He received one, two, three, four, five intentional walks. Four were official wave-downs; in high school ball, no pitches are necessary. The fifth was intentional without being labeled as such.

"It was frustrating the first couple times," Walker said. "But then I realized there's a level of respect when that happens. The last couple times it was funny. Plus, my teammates picked me up, so it was no big deal."

The result that day was a 15-7 win for K-K.

Yesterday, the teams tussled again at Latshaw/McCarthy Field, in Norristown, and Walker enjoyed seeing his freebies cut by 80 percent.

Mixed in with one intentional walk were three regular plate appearances. He laced a single to left in the first, powered a solo home run over the fence in the same direction in the third, and collected a second RBI in the fifth on an infield single deep into the shortstop hole.

The Wolverines won this one, 10-5.

Among the impressed was K-K's first-year coach, Tom Sergio, a first-magnitude star at the ol' Bishop Kenrick (class of '93; its last) who soared as high as Triple A in minor league baseball.

"Christian's potential is whatever he wants it to be," Sergio said. "He's a coach's dream not only because of how he produces, but because of how he approaches the game - all out, all the time.

"He wakes up thinking about baseball. Raring to go. During the games, we're always on the same wavelength. Or he's even one step ahead."

That trait was shown in the very first inning. With two away and Walker trying to steal second, Sal Spera sent a popup into shallow left-center. The ball was dropped and Walker, showing a combination of great hustle and instincts, scored without a throw.

"You have to run hard all the time," he said. "Anything like that could happen. Hustle is one of the things I pride myself on. That's one of the most impressive things a teammate can see. If you want to hustle, they want to hustle."

Walker blasted his homer with two outs.

"Coming off all those walks, I was a little anxious to swing today," he said, smiling. "I was more patient during the second at-bat, and he gave me what I was looking for."

Which was?

"Fastball right down the middle," he said.

Although Walker dabbled in football and basketball through seventh grade at the Spring-Ford Middle School, he allowed those careers to fizzle, as he called it, to concentrate on baseball. Smart move. He committed to South Carolina last summer and no doubt will draw scouting interest next spring.

Many playmates also contributed yesterday, and that was true even an hour before the game began when the Wolverines combined to remove a tarp from the field (they also recovered the field afterward).

Matt Marino collected two RBI apiece on a single and triple. Brandon Evangelist joined Walker on the solo-homer-to-left list. Evan Basile and Nick Guardino each posted two hits and two runs scored and Shane Giongo, a large football lineman and the game's only lefthanded hitter, provided a late-game highlight by smashing a ball off the rightfield fence and rumbling into second with a double.

K-K's four-run fourth, making it 6-5, allowed Steve Hopwood to emerge as the winning pitcher. Ed Skilton (two innings) and Steve Mahoney (one) combined for scoreless relief.

Carroll's highlight was Neil Gilman's two-run, fourth-inning single.

Meanwhile, Christian has been walkerin' around with his unusual nickname for 9 years. It came courtesy of his sister, Emily, now 10.

"One day we were driving somewhere and she kept saying 'Ya-Ya,' and no one knew what she meant," he said. "The next morning I came downstairs and she said 'Ya-Ya' real loud. We made the connection. She must mean me. I've been called that ever since."

Now, he's also called an impressive baseball player. One who always prefers the chance to get in the swing of things. *