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Rays Rally Around Young Fan

Tribune file photo by CHRIS URSO

Zachary Sharples got to meet Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine before Saturday's game against the Red Sox.

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: October 12, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Zachary Sharples wasn't sure what was up when his dad kept walking past their usual seats in Section 139 at Tropicana Field a couple of hours before Saturday's game.

As he and his father, Kevin Pennington, walked closer to the field, the 12-year-old's curiosity deepened.

"I had no clue what was going on," Sharples said. "I was like, 'I'm going on the field? What the heck?'"

Young Zachary, who has become something of a celebrity since he was slapped with an in-school suspension Monday for sporting a mohawk in support of the Rays, was about to get the surprise of his life.

Out of the Rays' dugout came Jonny Gomes, who presented the die-hard fan with a bat autographed by everyone on the team. As Gomes saw it, Zachary stuck up for the Rays, so they were going to stick up for him.

"I was one of the guys that started this mohawk thing," Gomes said. "We don't want to take anyone down the wrong road for doing it, you know?"

Zachary also got to meet Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine, who asked for and received the full explanation of what transpired Monday at Lincoln Middle School in Palmetto. Zachary got his hair cut Sunday, along with his dad and younger brother.

"I dyed it blue the day I got it cut," Zachary said. "I made sure to wash it out before I went to bed that night so I wouldn't get in trouble, and apparently that didn't happen."

Apparently not. Zachary was in the school's gymnasium awaiting first period Monday morning when he was pulled out and told he would face in-school suspension for violating the dress code. He said he spent the rest of the day in one room.

"I couldn't put my head down, I couldn't talk, I couldn't do anything," he said. "I just sat there the whole entire day."

There were others in the room, most of them there for fighting or some other offense, Zachary thought.

"I was the only one with a mohawk, though."

He didn't go back to Lincoln Middle after that. He and his family already were planning to move to St. Petersburg, and they did so Saturday. Zachary will begin classes at Tyrone Middle School on Monday.

Do they allow mohawks at Tyrone?

"Yes, definitely," he said. "We made sure."

If he runs into trouble, Zachary has a high-powered new friend who will vouch for him.

"If you need a note," Carlos Pena told him Saturday, "let me know."

Reporter Marc Lancaster can be reached at (813) 259-7227.

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