For a baseballer, there is nothing like a crucial hit at an important point in a close game to announce your arrival at a new club.
Charles Thompson was frustrated after spending much of his first three months at the Werribee Giants sidelined with a groin injury, so when the opportunity to play a key role presented in a one-run win over Bonbeach earlier this month, he was not going to let it slip.
“We had a runner on second base and we desperately needed that run to score,” Thompson told Star Weekly.
“I just did whatever I could, put the ball in play and luckily we got the extra run in.”
Thompson is a key for the Giants as they strive for glory in Baseball Victoria summer league division 2.
“I’m not trying to be the show,” Thompson said. “You can’t win a game without the team … everybody here is so oriented about how we perform as a unit instead of individually.
Thompson has the future of the club in his hands. The 30-year-old is coach of the reserves and is a role model for the young players in the first team. The American wants to be a career coach and sees himself rising to higher levels but only after playing a major roles on and off the field with the Giants.
“They’re really hungry to get to division 1 and I can definitely see it,” Thompson said.
“I just wanted to be a part of that. I mainly wanted to go there to coach because that’s what I’m good at – it’s what I’ve been doing for the past eight years now. I’d like to coach at the highest level I can.”
Thompson was a talented young sportsman growing up in Seattle.
In high school, he was first team all-state in football, second team all-state in baseball and received an honourable mention in basketball.
He settled on baseball as his chosen sport and bounced around colleges in California, Minnesota and Washington.
It was Thompson’s dream to get to the big leagues but even seasons averaging well in excess of .300 in the batters box were not enough to for the major league scouts. One year, with Northland Community College in Minnesota, he hit .375.
Thompson had one last shot, transferring to Lassen Community College in California, where he hit .320 but there were no takers – so he turned to coaching.
He has been an assistant coach for various teams in the US, including junior touring teams and high school and university sides.
The Marshall resident has played at the Geelong Baycats and coached their under-18 team for the past two seasons.
Having been involved with so many clubs, Thompson is ready to share his knowledge with the youngsters at Werribee.
“I’m just trying to help them and point them in the right direction … make sure they play baseball the right way,” he said.
“I feel that I have a lot of knowledge in the game of baseball, and experience.”
Thompson will be used as a utility with the capability of playing all nine defensive positions.
And he will be expected to come up with more big hits like his one against Bonbeach.
The Giants improved to 9-2 on the season after Wes DeJong threw all 11 innings of a 5-3 win over Ballarat.
