Baseball: Hart Coach Jim Ozella makes it to World Series

Hart baseball Coach Jim Ozella made it to Wrigley Field on Friday night to watch game three of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians with the help of an anonymous donation and tickets from the Montgomery family.

Ozella said that Hart Principal Collyn Nielsen “stunned” him on Wednesday during a faculty meeting by announcing that “someone” has paid for the “head baseball coach” to travel to Chicago, and that Cubs pitcher Mike Montgomery, a 2008 Hart grad, and his father, Dave, a former Hart basketball coach, would have a ticket for him.

His flight was delayed two hours on Friday. He took a cab to a hotel, then two trains to Wrigley Field and made it an hour before game time.

He’s flying out on Saturday. Montgomery is a relief pitcher for the Cubs, and another former Hart pitcher, Trevor Bauer, plays for the Indians. The Cubs lost, 1-0, on Friday, but Ozella, Hart’s baseball coach since 2000, will be forever grateful for the experience.

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