Frozen in time: Diamondbacks share fond memories of baseball on the Cape, homemade ice cream

SCOTTSDALE —  Nick Ahmed remembers that his father always ordered the peach ice cream.

Even now, during spring training as a shortstop for the Diamondbacks, he can talk about how he dreamed about playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League when he was a kid. His family would drive two hours from their home in East Longmeadow in central Massachusetts to Orleans on the Cape to watch the Orleans Cardinals play at Eldredge Park.

And sample the homemade ice cream, of course.

That dream came true seven years ago when Ahmed played in Orleans as a member of the Bourne Braves of the CCBL.

“Getting to go there and step on the field where I watched guys play before me was something I always looked forward to as a kid,” he said. “Doing that as a college athlete was really special.”

Many major leaguers hold fond memories of their days in the CCBL. Ahmed is one of nine Diamondbacks who spent time in the league while in college.

Ahmed split his summer days between Doran Park, the Braves’ home, and at the beach, where he and his teammates spent off days huddled around a bonfire.

Like Ahmed, Chris Iannetta, now 15 years removed from the league, appreciated being able to drive home to Providence, Rhode Island on the days he didn’t have be with the Chatham A’s.

“It’s kind of where you want to be when you’re out of college on summer break,” he said.

The league is regarded as one of the best college baseball summer leagues, where many top players honed their skills and began their ascent to the majors.

Some of the soon-to-be household names have ended up there, making it a three-month preview of MLB culture. Eight Bourne Braves during Ahmed’s season went on to add their names to big league rosters.

“To take it a step further and play with the best players in the country, the best of the best, it was awesome to see how you stacked up,” Ahmed said.

The league also gives players a chance to show scouts how they can hit using a wood bat, which the league specializes in, instead of aluminum bats used in NCAA baseball.

“It takes away from the metal bat juice that some guys had for sure,” Ahmed said.

Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb said he used a wood bat for the first time when he played for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the CCBL.

“I had no shot,” he said. “I think I hit about .200. I was terrible.”

Actually, Lamb hit .253, but the differences of hitting with a wood bat against top-notch pitching was a wake-up call before he returned to the University of Washington for his junior year.

“It made me say, ‘you know what? I’ve got to get better here.’ But I kind of put too much pressure on myself,” he said. “It was a big learning experience. It showed me that I had to get better but at the same time, don’t force it, just let it happen.”

Despite his struggles that summer, Lamb said it was one of his favorite summers playing baseball.

Like most CCBL players, he lived with a host family. His was in Dennis, Massachusetts, which sits near the center of the Cape’s hooked peninsula. Being a walk of two minutes from the shore meant that it became a pregame ritual before his team headed to the field for the day.

Like Ahmed, one of Lamb’s lasting memories is of frozen treats.

“There was a local ice cream spot a block away that was famous,” he said. “So we’d hit that up.”

Lamb said he could ride a beach bike to a grocery store there, too.

“They had really good sandwiches,” he said. “I was just on a bike going to get food in the morning. It was just awesome.”