He used to pitch, but now, Nate Rolfe – a 2015 graduate of San Marino High School – plays on one. And that difference in terminology might just be the simplest to comprehend.
Because it’s an entirely different jargon these days for Rolfe, who will be a junior this year at Haverford, a liberal arts college located outside of Philadelphia. Raised on a steady diet of baseball, Rolfe got involved in the sport of cricket shortly after arriving on campus.
So instead of balls, strikes, runs and outs, Rolfe’s lexicon includes such entries as beamers, bouncers, googlies, yorkers, sticky-wickets and diamond-ducks.
Rolfe intended on continuing his baseball career at the next level, but his back had another say in the matter. He suffered a string of back injuries throughout his baseball career including a second fractured facet joint during his senior year at SMHS which required two surgeries.
“While I was able to complete my senior season, it was apparent that I wouldn’t be able to continue pitching at the competitive level that I wanted,” he said. “I started playing cricket my freshman year after being approached by the cricket team captain, or ‘skipper’, who had heard that I had played baseball in high school,” Rolfe continued. “I hoped that the different movements in the sport would be better tolerated by my back and that I would be able to capitalize on the hand-eye coordination I had developed playing baseball. Unfortunately, I was still in quite a bit of pain my freshman year as I learned to play the sport, to the point that I would require my third and fourth back surgeries and second spinal fusion last summer. The good news, however, is that I have been able to return to the cricket pitch, and played this last season in the least amount of back pain that I have been in since the age of 12.”
By the fall of his freshman season, Rolfe was promoted to opening batsman, which is akin to the leadoff hitter in baseball. An important difference is that in cricket the batter stays “in the middle” until he gets out, which means that the opening batsmen – there are two, one at either end of the pitch – set the offensive tone for the team.
“This past year I have begun bowling, which is akin to baseball pitching, but with a straight arm, and I can now call myself an ‘all-rounder,’ which means I am expected to contribute to each game in the bowling, batting, and fielding departments.”
The positions in cricket fielding are much more dynamic than baseball, and the positioning of fielders is dependent upon how the batter is batting and how the bowler is bowling. A batter can hit in a 360-degree circle, much unlike baseball, which has traditional boundaries.
“I won’t define all the positions, but they certainly have some strange names such as ‘cow corner,’ ‘square leg, ‘slips,’ and ‘mid-wicket,’” he explained. “Any sport has its own vocabulary, but I think cricket’s is particularly entertaining.”
Haverford’s cricket team has a range of prior experiences from international students who played the sport while growing up to Americans, like Rolfe, who just recently picked up the game which is 2nd most popular in the world, behind soccer.
“Since we are the only varsity cricket team in the country, we have played against a variety of opponents, including nearby school’s club teams, local and far-flung cricket clubs, the United States women’s national team, the Canadian men’s national team, and international teams from Australia, New Zealand, and England,” he explained.
Rolfe said it has been “tempting” to return to baseball, especially considering the apparent success of the latest round of surgeries.
“But the prospect of a fifth baseball-related back surgery keeps me on the cricket pitch,” he quickly added. “Luckily, techniques used for batting and bowling in cricket involve less torque on the spine.”
The cerebral Rolfe is majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Latin. He also performs research in a bio-inorganic chemistry lab at Haverford. Some of his greatest lessons, however, were learned on the diamond at San Marino High School’s McNamee Field.
“My two favorite highlights from Titan baseball are, certainly, winning the Rio Hondo League my junior year and pitching a complete-game, 1-0 shutout my senior year against Big Bear in a game that lasted only 75 minutes,” he recalls. “Learning a new sport has its difficulties, but the work ethic and accountability that I learned playing SMHS baseball have aided in the transition. But I am as excited now about cricket as I am about baseball.”
And nearly as successful. Rolfe was named ‘Man of the Match’ for Haverford this past spring after a 30-run victory over the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Nate is the son of Gail and Steve Rolfe of San Marino.
It’s An Entirely Different Pitch for Nate Rolfe
