Walnut Creek retires Ryan Ellis' jersey in emotional ceremony
No Crawdad will wear the number two after Ellis was honored for his work with the team
Sunday morning, a determined Walnut Creek coach Brant Cummings frantically searched Michael's for the perfect item.
A coach of a baseball team with a game in just a few hours, it might be assumed that Cummings was out of place. However, he was exactly where he needed to be. A few minutes later, he walked out of the store with a big frame.
Hours later, at 3:50, Crawdads' general manager Austin Ota took the microphone at Monte Vista High School and started giving a speech. He started by shouting out the interns, then, he got to the real business of the day, and the use of the large frame.
Ota mentioned that no Crawdads player wears the jersey number one, recalling a conversation he had with Cummings months ago. Then, mentioned senior utility man Ryan Ellis. The all-time leader in countless stats for the Crawdads, who wears the jersey number two.
Having spent four years in the Creek, he was due another special moment. Ota announced that he wanted to make sure that, like the number one, no player would wear number two for the rest of Crawdads history.
Emerging with a framed Crawdads jersey were many members of the Ellis family, making the start to the game an incredibly emotional moment.
After having Sunday be dedicated to him, the ceremony meant the world to Ellis.
"It's really special how they were able to surprise me today," Ellis said. "It was cool to see all the support from all my teammates and all the interns and all the coaches and fans. It was really cool."
On the field, Walnut Creek took down Menlo Park 10-6 in its final regular season game, making 28-10 its 2026 record.
The special moments for Ellis continued after the game started. Playing left field for the first six innings, Cummings replaced Ellis with sophomore Brandon Clizbe at the top of the seventh inning. After that, Ellis got a standing ovation as he tipped his cap to the stands.
Senior Kam Taylor has spent the last two summers with Ellis. While Taylor had one hit and three RBIs against the Legends, Ellis' jersey retirement was on the top of his mind post-game.
"That's a great thing for him," Taylor said. "He's a good team player. He's a very good friend. Congratulations to Ryan, man."
The decision to retire a jersey for the Crawdads was not a hard one. Before this Summer, it was not a guarantee that Ellis would play his fourth season in Walnut Creek. His coach did not put any pressure on Ellis or have expectations for him to join, but Ellis showed just how much loyalty he has to his team when he called his coach a few weeks before the season started.
As Ellis continued to shine in 2026, Ota came to Cummings with the idea to make Ellis the final Crawdad to wear number two.
"Austin (Ota) actually presented it to me," Cummings said. "He came to me and said, 'hey, we're toying with the idea, would you be interested in retiring his number?' It made complete sense. He's been here so many years. He's played so great for us in each of those seasons. It was an easy yes for me."
With the regular season now in the rear view, the Crawdads now wait for the playoffs.
On Wednesday at Monte Vista High School at 4:00 p.m., they will face the winner of Tuesday's game between Sonoma and San Luis Obispo.