Pitch Perfect Love
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Newlyweds Sarah and Michael Wacha look forward to many years of rooting each other on
by: JENNIFER JORDAN
photo by SAMANTHA FARMER PHOTOGRAPHY
Michael and Sarah became engaged in Dallas on January 29, 2020. He pretended to drive to his training facility, but instead, drove around to scope out the location and call Sarah’s father to ask for permission. Sarah was completely surprised!
Long-distance relationships carry both benefits and drawbacks. Separation is difficult, especially in a new relationship when a couple is just beginning to navigate their course. Yet, time apart offers the opportunity for deeper connections when together and for more reflection about the partnership. Temporary separation can strengthen a relationship and help partners realize that they have found their soulmates.
Michael and Sarah Wacha understand this very well. They have charted their own path to love and marriage through many years of long-distance romance. When they met one evening in St. Louis in 2014, neither anticipated that they would marry six years later in the time of COVID-19. Yet, Sarah and Michael also knew that they had clicked, and through the course of several years of long distance, they committed to their relationship and found happiness.
Every year from 2014-2019, Michael and Sarah have traveled to Texarkana to spend Thanksgiving with their family and friends.
Currently a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, Michael has maintained a demanding work schedule since the beginning of his professional career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Growing up in Texarkana, Michael was taught by his parents to work hard for what mattered. As a student at Pleasant Grove High School, Michael played basketball and baseball all four years, football his freshman year, and also earned a place in the National Honor Society before attending Texas A&M University on a baseball scholarship. Sarah grew up in St. Louis with a similar experience in a tight-knit family who raised good kids and valued education. Sarah’s mom taught for 34 years and “always spoke highly of education and how rewarding it is,” Sarah comments. In fact, Sarah received a scholarship from the University of Arizona at Tucson School of Education and graduated with a degree in elementary education in 2015.
Sarah and Michael met at the end of May in 2014 when she returned home after her junior year of college. “We met at a bar named Hair of The Dog. It’s funny nowadays telling the story of how we met, because we are not bar people at all,” Sarah reminisces. Michael and his teammate, Matt Adams, had come in to unwind after a game that evening. Sarah was there with high school friends; they had all recently turned 21. “I think it was nice for him to meet someone from St. Louis who didn’t really know too much about him other than the fact that he played for the Cardinals. My friends and I were all around Michael’s age, so I think he just enjoyed being able to let loose a little and have fun with kids his age,” Sarah relates. “We played shuffleboard that night, and he bought me a drink. We ended up going back to the same bar on our one-year anniversary, played shuffleboard, and celebrated our first year together.”
Sarah explains that she and Michael just “clicked right away.” “Michael had just come off an incredible rookie season in the big leagues, and I was just home from college for the summer. We were living such different lives, but our connection was instant.” Sarah elaborates, “He was such a gentleman when we parted ways for the night. I happened to be leaving for a cruise with my family the next day so I wasn’t exactly sure what would happen. I thought it was a really fun night but definitely didn’t think I had just met my husband. However, my parents bought me Wi-Fi on the cruise, and we ended up talking nonstop. The day we got back from the cruise, he left tickets for my brother and me. Michael and I went to dinner that night, and the rest is history!”
Upon graduating from college, Sarah was fortunate to return to St. Louis and accept a job teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students in the district in which she grew up. She had graduated with a master’s degree in Education and became certified to teach ESL students, kindergarten through 12th grade. Michael was extremely supportive of Sarah’s teaching, listening to her stories, and even helping her to learn some Korean phrases the night before she met four young students from Korea who did not know any English.
Every off-season, Sarah and Michael try to take a trip to Maui, their “happy place.” This photo was taken on Michael’s first trip to the island during December 2014.
Sarah recalls the challenges of building her relationship with Michael during her first year of teaching and his baseball schedule. “Baseball controls where/what city you play in and for how long. Then it gets even more specific, baseball decides where you spend your spring (mid-February through March), then you move to a different city for the 162-game baseball season. So, from about mid-February through September (and maybe October depending if you make the playoffs), Michael’s schedule is written for him. There are no personal days for a sibling’s wedding, or sick days if you aren’t feeling your best,” Sarah explains. “My district only gave us TWO personal days to use over the course of the entire school year. I am a rule follower and was too scared to take a sick day if I wasn’t actually sick. The combination of teaching and baseball could have made things very difficult, but we always knew we would do whatever it took to make things work.” They maintained a long-distance relationship for several years, but they made it work by planning ahead their next trip or weekend.
In October 2018, Michael spoke to students at Prairie View Elementary School during bullying awareness month. Sarah was an ESL teacher in St. Louis while Michael was playing baseball for the Cardinals.
Michael moved to Tampa Bay to play with the Rays, and he and Sarah planned a large wedding in St. Louis for November 2020. COVID-19 altered their plans, and they ended up getting married in their backyard on November 28, 2020, in Jupiter, Florida, 10 days after moving into their house. They hosted family for Thanksgiving and married two days later. “Our change of plans led to the most perfect wedding and weekend,” Sarah states. “We had 15 of our closest family and friends. It was our parents, siblings and their significant others, my very best friend since preschool and Michael’s nephews. We really wanted our grandparents to be there, but it was too risky with COVID. The wedding ended up being everything we could have asked for and more. It could not have been more different than what we originally planned on doing (probably around 300 people at a country club in St. Louis) but it was so US (low-key, intimate, with our favorite people on Earth minus a few, of course). There was no pressure. We actually got to talk to our parents, talk to each other. It was perfect.” Sarah’s dad got ordained to officiate the ceremony, and Michael’s dad shared a Bible reading. The couple set up a Zoom feed so that other friends and family could participate virtually. Michael and Sarah also wrote their own vows, which they say was their favorite aspect of the ceremony.
Married life three months later continues to be wonderful. Sarah comments that it feels much the same as when they dated. “We have been looking forward to being married for so long, but at the end of the day, we have always been a team, partners, each other’s biggest fans, and committed to making each other’s lives better.” They complement each other well, playing off each other’s strengths. Sarah notes how calm Michael always is, always believing that things will work out, and how “he appreciates his roots, the people who helped him succeed.” Michael calls Texarkana his hometown and is grateful for the support of all the coaches and other people who have helped him. Michael remarks how sweet and helpful Sarah is. “She has the biggest heart and is always looking to help others. I love having her by my side and can’t imagine it any other way.”
The Wachas are spending the off-season in Jupiter and are excited to move across the state to Tampa Bay in April. Sarah is not teaching currently, but enjoys serving as the coordinating director of a nonprofit organization called Prom Series. Established by a baseball wife, Prom Series “supports foster teens across the country by building their confidence and self-worth, big league style.” Michael and Sarah also look forward to their future. They plan to host a large wedding celebration later this year and then hopefully start a family. As Sarah explains, “We can’t wait to see where baseball takes us. Baseball is all about adventures; there is no road map, so we just go with the flow. We look forward to meeting new friends and getting to explore and live in new places.” Here’s to a beautiful life filled with much love and laughter.
Family is everything to Sarah and Michael so they gathered up the entire group on their wedding day, November 28, 2020. Pictured with them are: (front) Carson Clapsaddle and Bentley Clapsaddle (Michael and Sarah’s nephews); (back) Johnny Hoffman (Sarah’s twin brother), John Hoffman (Sarah’s father), Susan Hoffman (Sarah’s mother), Karen Wacha (Michael’s mother), Tom Wacha (Michael’s father), Brette Wacha (Michael’s sister), Lucas Wacha (Michael’s brother), Charles Clapsaddle (Michael’s brother), and Samantha Wacha (Lucas’s wife). (Photo by Samantha Farmer Photography)