LOS ANGELES -- With their school burned down and their field demolished, Palisades Charter's baseball team gathered at Fairfax High on Friday afternoon, for the finale of a regular season spent entirely on the road.
One by one, eight Palisades seniors -- a group of players who had their middle school graduation upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, then spent their final high school semester in nomadic chaos after Los Angeles' unprecedented wildfires -- spilled out of the dugout to be recognized. They held roses for their mothers and personalized baseballs for their fathers. Palisades athletic director Rocky Montz introduced them individually, then paused after they had all lined up along the first-base line.