Capturing a walk-off: One frame at a time

Sometimes I field questions about getting certain shots. A few weeks ago, Cal Poly beat Columbia on a ninth-inning single Cole Cabrera hit off the left field wall. At least that’s what they tell me. I didn’t see it. I was focused on some other things. Here’s how getting the shots of the walk-off hit and celebration went.

John Wooden said, “Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” 

He’s not wrong. I’ve learned that the hard way lots of times as a photographer. There are games I’ve gotten to without cards in my camera. Or batteries. There have been times I wished I’d thought ahead and brought that second lens down from the press-box for post game. Or remembered to format a card before the game. There’s nothing like getting photos from your kid’s birthday party gumming up the works as you’re trying to ingest things that are time sensitive. It happens less and less over time, but it has happened.

On this Friday night, the game was low-scoring and close. When Columbia tied the game at 2 in the top of the 7th inning, I knew a walk-off situation was in-play for the Mustangs. In the 7th I was shooting from the stands or in the press box ingesting photos. When the bottom of the 7th was over, I started planning for the shot. Often times I’ll just grab the 400mm lens for baseball, but I grabbed a 24-70mm as well in this case. I wanted to be ready in case there I needed to get a closer, wider angle for the celebration. 

I ran down around the stands, onto the warning track behind the dugout, and to the Cal Poly side. It’s a longer walk this season since the Mustangs are building a new press box. Doubling back is not something that’s fun, but it does make the planning a lot more important.

I could have chosen the Columbia (1st base) side, and planned to shoot the players mobbing onto the field. But I made a conscious choice to shoot from the end of the Cal Poly (3rd base) dugout instead. 

During the 8th inning, I practiced what it would be like to prop my 400mm lens with the monopod up on the dugout fencing. The fence there has a soft pad on top of it and it had been raining, so nothing was dry or clean. But the pad was a good place to rest it — out of the way. I practiced going from a picture-taking stance to shortening the monopod and propping it up at least 3-4 times during the 8th inning. 

With the game still tied, the bottom of the 9th started off poorly for Cal Poly. The first two players flew out.

This is a good time to remind you that, more often than not, preparation for something like this is totally in vain. Most of the time, you’ll shrug your shoulders and get ready for the next inning.

Not this night though. Blake Wagenseller, a powerful sophomore tripled into the left-center field gap (there are some fun photos of him sprinting to third base). Now things started to really heat-up. With Wagenseller at third, Cal Poly could win on a passed ball (home plate celebration) or any number of miscues from Columbia.

Blake Wagenseller tripled to set-up a walk-off hit by Cole Cabrera. Photo by Owen Main

The next hitter was Cole Cabrera. Not known for his enormous power, the outfielder poked one off the left field wall to win the game. 

Cole Cabrera pokes the ball down the left field line. Photo by Owen Main

When batters are up, I try to get just a single frame for when the ball and bat connect. 

But then I just started shooting. As the ball flew toward the foul pole, Cabrera raised his hand. As he rounded first, I took a peek at the frothing mob of players that would eventually be in the way of my shot, so I got what I could. Cabrera jumped in the air, throwing down his hat, which is a photo that Cal Poly used on social media and the one that was my favorite. Once the players were in my field of vision, I quickly put the big lens down like I’d practiced and ran out onto the infield. God I look silly, but the next few photos were ones that Cal Poly used on the game write up. Cabrera and Wagenseller hugging was a fun shot that summed up how Cal Poly had managed to win in dramatic fashion. 

Cole Cabrera celebrates after a walk-off hit. PhotoBy Owen Main

What I shot wasn’t perfect by any means though. If I had it to go back and do again I’d have kept the ISO up higher on my short lens so the photos I took as I was still moving toward the mob were at a higher shutter speed and sharper. A better angle, perhaps from somewhere IN the dugout might have been cooler too. Or arms and bodies would have been in the way. Who knows?

I would have also tried to see whether Wagenseller, who scored the winning run, ever looked toward the dugout. One look over his shoulder or a spin at home plate could have made for a great shot. Maybe if I’d had a remote fixed on the plate. What if, what if, what if. 

Thinking my way through this shot well ahead of time allowed me to get some useable images of a really dramatic moment. I guess that’s what it’s about. I’ll try to do better next time.