BIG East Bearcats
We spend a lot of our time putting together our clinics for cities that we’ve never been in. That means that we are trying to find a suitable field that we’ve never seen. We’re talking to people that we’ve never met. And we’re promoting an event for kids and volunteers that we hope show up. It’s an interesting process to say the least.
Well in Cincinnati, we had looked at having our event at the University of Cincinnati ball fields. It took a bit more time to get through the reservation process, but we booked it with more than a month left before our time in Cincinnati We knew that we had the ball field at the University of Cincinnati and that was about it. We had no idea what it actually would entail.
Looking at the permit reservation on our way to the ball park, we knew we had to look for Marge Schott Field. We knew who Marge was. She had been and still is, pivotal in the Cincinnati baseball community. That’s a pretty good sign as to how nice the field would be!
When we drove on the Univ of Cincinnati’s campus an hour before our event, we passed right by Marge Schott field and took a double take. It appeared that our event was actually ON the field that the Univ of Cincinnati Big East team played on! We circled back around and, sure enough, there was Mike waiting for us directing us where to park our trailer to unload our equipment. We backed our trailer right up to the outfield wall unloading area and quickly shuffled our equipment to the field.
We had plans to meet with Dan Spehler of Local 12 in Cincinnati too as they wanted to do a story on Biking for Baseball for the evening news. We divided up between person’s interviewing with Dan and setting up the field for our event. Dan and his camera crew provided a pretty cool look at B4B. Check it out! ->
The previous night we had attended a Reds game with kids and volunteers from Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Cincinnati. While there, we offered the group to join us the following night on the diamond for the clinic. Three matches said that they would come. And they did! It was a very fun group to work with.
Dariz is looking for a Big to join up with! He had a ton of fun smacking homers, avoiding the tag in the pickle drill and snaggin pop flies. Once he got the hang of it, he didn’t want to quit!
Teaila was Dariz’s older brother and showed it. Helping Dariz with his swing and on the basepaths, Teaila was a pro at the game. It was like having another adult there!
Michael hit probably the farthest wiffle ball home run we have seen this summer. We placed the HR Derby station a good 100 feet away from the outfield fence. In addition, the fence was nearly 40 feet tall. Michael, CRUSHED a ball over the fence. One of the most well-squared-up wiffle balls I’ve ever seen hit! Way to go Michael!
The Univ. of Cincinnati employees were unbelievably generous. They donated official hats and balls to us to enjoy on the rest of our journey across the country. Definitely not expected, but very much appreciated. Thank you Shane!
These kids were great, and one of them is looking for an adult out there to be his mentor! Join up with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Cincinnati today to help Dariz have a positive influence in his life in addition to his great sister J