Bittersweet memorial at Hokies exhibition game

By Mark Berman and Katrina Waugh

BLACKSBURG

Mike Pohle was a Philadelphia Phillies fan. When he first met ardent New York Yankees fan and fellow Virginia Tech student Marcy Crevonis,

they bickered about baseball.

Pohle was one of the 32 people killed by a gunman in the April 16 shootings.

Crevonis, who was his fiancee, was among the excited fans at English Field on Tuesday when the Yankees played the Hokies in an exhibition that was arranged in the wake of the shootings.

But first, she went to the campus memorial and waited with about 100 other fans for the Yankees to come by and pay their respects.

"I want to see them go by Mike's stone," Crevonis said.

She placed a Derek Jeter T-shirt next to Pohle's

stone. Pohle, who was from New Jersey, liked the Yankees' star shortstop even though he was a Phillies fan.

When Jeter stopped near Pohle's stone, she got him to take a photo with her. His only request to her was that she smile, which she did.

"It's part of the reason that we're here," he said. "People always ask, 'Well, what can you do? How does this help?' I really don't know. If it just makes people smile or enjoy themselves for the three hours that we're here, it's all worthwhile."

The Yankees won the seven-inning game 11-0 in front of 5,311 fans and almost 100 media members, including those from ESPN and CNN.

But this was a game that was less about baseball than it was about healing.

"Arguably, this is the most important game I've played in my Yankee career because it makes you realize all the important things about life," said third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who spent part of the game in the Virginia Tech dugout signing autograph s.

"To come here to Virginia Tech and kind of unite with them for one day is very important. This is probably the proudest day I've ever been to wear a Yankee uniform."

Hearing that, Hokies coach Pete Hughes said, "knocks you on your heels."

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said visiting the memorial "brought tears to my eyes." He was moved even more during the game when, as he briefly went up in the stands to sit next to Tech football coach Frank Beamer, the sister of someone who was killed in the shootings thanked him for coming.

"That really hit me hard," he said.

Tech student Derek O'Dell, who was shot April 16, was among the crowd that watched the game on a chilly afternoon.

"It's a little bit bittersweet that this is happening, but it's nice that the Yankees and Virginia Tech have put this together," O'Dell said.

Tech student Heidi Miller, who also was shot April 16, attended the game as well.

"You take each day one at a time. Today, this is something that's really neat that they're doing," she said.

"It's a good time, but I think in the back of everyone's mind, we know why we're here."

The sentiments of the Tech players were best summed up by starting pitcher Andrew Wells, who called the game "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Wells made it all the way through the pregame media crush and opening ceremonies. He took his warmup tosses and then...

"That's when it set in, that's when reality hit," Wells said. "It was me on the mound and Johnny Damon at the plate.

"And I brushed him back, unintentionally."

The crowd gasped "whoa" with a single voice.

Damon leaned back to dodge the ball. Then, he smiled.

And smiles were the order of the day.

"It was everything everybody wanted it to be," Tech second baseman Matt Hacker said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.