(This article appears in the Spring 2019 issue of Wildcat Illustrated, available on newsstands now and online soon.)

Most Novembers, Chico State baseball head coach Dave Taylor and his team are finishing up fall workouts, getting ready for winter before intense spring workouts leading up to the February opener.
 
This season was different.
 
On November 8, at 6:33 a.m., the deadliest fire in California history began. First in the towns of Pulga, then Concow, Magalia, and Paradise, before threatening eastern parts of Chico and nearby Durham.
 
The fire burned 153,336 acres, 13,972 homes, displaced 27,000 people, and caused 86 deaths, according to Cal Fire.
 
Chico State, along with other surrounding schools, was forced to suspend classes, beginning on the evening of November 8, and did not reopen until after Thanksgiving break on November 26.
 
For Chico State athletics, the initial response centered around keeping its student-athletes safe. The cities of Chico and Paradise, and all of Butte County had been changed for the foreseeable future. This was not one of the small annual or biannual fires that people in the area had almost come to expect.

 
"It was obviously something that we've never seen before," said Taylor, a resident of Chico. "The day that it happened (we were) just concerned about getting guys out of here. Getting them to relax a little because everyone kind of panicked."

While the fire stayed clear of directly affecting the Chico State baseball team's current student-athletes and its coaching staff, it did impact one of its own.

One of Coach Taylor's former players, who lived in Paradise with his wife and kids, lost everything. That, paired with the thought of the young people of Paradise not being able to play the game they grew up loving, sprung the Wildcats into action.

"The second thing, once it was contained, was about what can we do to help," Taylor said.
 
On November 19, Chico State assistant baseball coach Jose Garcia sent out a text to his team asking them to consider looking for donations of baseball gear for those affected by the fire.

While many Wildcats jumped at the idea, three players led the charge, according to Taylor. Turner Olson brought a truck full from the Bay Area, Grady Morgan brought another packed truck from Laguna Beach, and Kristian Scott collected another truck load in Southern California.
 
"I told my (high school) coach about it and it took off from there," Olson said.
 
The Wildcats were looking to help whoever they could, from replenishing little leagues to helping the Paradise High School baseball team had the gear necessary to get back on the diamond.

"Where I live it was a no-brainer, instantly," Morgan, the redshirt freshman outfielder from Laguna Beach said. "A town like Paradise is pretty similar to a town like Laguna Beach in terms of the value of banding together as a community."
 
While back home with his parents, Scott, a corner infielder with Chico State, worked for a man who owned a sporting goods store. He immediately jumped in on the idea, collecting gear that was delivered in multiple U-Hauls.

 
Taylor estimated Scott brought 300 bats and 200 gloves in the U-Haul from Southern California.

It all started with Taylor asking the team to try and find some of their own baseball gear.
 
Then the day came when the team showed up to Chico Junior High to distribute the gear they had collected.
 
"When we got to the gym that morning I was astounded, overwhelmed, use whatever superlative you want, as to how much equipment was gathered," said Paradise Little League President Pam Beauchamp. "Then Chico State showed up, the whole team."

Beauchamp had been named president of the league in September and lost her home just two months later in the fire.
 
The Wildcats unloaded box after box. And then they began to organize it all.

"It was like the prettiest thing," Beauchamp remembered thinking. "So not only did they bring boxes and unbox things but they were organizing too."

The players hung out with the kids, signed autographs, took pictures, and helped take the kids' mind off of tragedy for even a brief moment.

Taylor said the time his players spent with the Paradise Little Leaguers distributing the materials was important.

"They can go home, get their stuff and bring it back and feel they've done their due diligence," Taylor said. "But to actually spend an hour with those kids and talk to them about what's going on, I think that part was good for them more so than actually going out and getting the gear."
 
With normal league fees running roughly $85 this season, the Paradise Little League and is using a pay-as-you-can payment system with scholarships available, hoping fees will not prohibit players from being back on the field.
 
"I think that what we are trying to do is get back to what we call some sort of normal," Beauchamp said.
 
They will be sharing field space with Chico's Westside Little League, as well as playing interleague games. She expects to have roughly half the number of participants this year but is staying optimistic.

"We're doing it for the kids because we do love baseball and it is a part of spring," Beauchamp said. "I mean, you can feel it in the air if you've been around little league."
 
Taylor hopes the experience will help him and his Wildcats to remain mindful of the tragedy and those affected.

"To be kind of right in the middle of it and interact with some of the kids and people I think is a great learning experience for them that they will be able to take with them as they move forward in their own lives," Taylor said. "It's a very humbling experience."
 
Baseball, like everything else, has been impacted by the Camp Fire. The youth of Paradise will be playing at a different location, for one thing. But thanks in part to the efforts of the Wildcats, the same familiar sounds of the game—the ping of the bat, the snap of the glove, and the crunch of cleats sprinting down the line—will help them get back to "some sort of normal" this season.