CINCINNATI — Thousands of kids and teenagers across the United States will swing for the fences at baseball and softball games this summer. But there was something extra special about the contest between a pair of youth softball teams in Cincinnati’s East End on Friday night.
What You Need To Know
- The Reds Community Fund and partners renovated a youth baseball field in Cincinnati's East End neighborhood
- To mark the occasion, two youth softball teams received major league treatment with a PA announcer, music and mascots
- The festivities were part of PLAY BALL Weekend, which aims to inspire more kids to play baseball and softball
The 5:30 p.m. matchup featured the Valley Youth Organization from Reading, Ohio and the Cincinnati Sluggers, a team of students from several neighborhoods.
The two 12-and-under softball teams helped kick off PLAY BALL Weekend in style at the freshly renovated PNC Field at LeBlond RecPlex.
PLAY BALL is an initiative by Major League Baseball and the U.S. Conference of Mayors to encourage young fans to get out and play softball or baseball, the so-called diamond sports because of the shape of their playing surface.
Other events taking place throughout the weekend include the USA Softball C-Metro Tournament in Mason, Ohio. On Sunday, the Reds are hosting a local Pitch, Hit and Run event at the Reds Youth Academy for children 7 to 14 years old.
All kids who take part in a PLAY BALL Weekend event receive a bat and ball set, a T-shirt and tickets to a future Cincinnati Reds game.
But the centerpiece of PLAY Ball efforts on Friday night was the showdown between VYO and the Sluggers.
The game was part of what MLB described as a “homefield takeover.” The kids — most 12 and under — benefitted from big-league treatment with the appearance of mascots and the Reds Rally Pack. There was also a DJ and an in-game PA system.
Players on both teams got to hear their names called in front of the fans before the first pitch.
“I’m kind of excited but it’s also kind of nerve-wrecking to be playing in front of everyone,” Annabel Sand, a utility player for VYO, said before the opening pitch. “But it’s mostly just exciting.”
“It made us feel like we’re in the big leagues,” she added shortly afterward.
Ke’shylah Price, 12, an outfielder for the Sluggers, shared those nerves at first, but she said her team was ready for the big game.
“We’ve been pretty good this year and I’m excited to show everyone what we can do,” she said.
Charley Frank, executive director of the Reds Community Fund, described PLAY BALL as a weekend-long promotion of helping young fans fall in love with baseball and softball.
Data shows that fewer kids are playing baseball today than there were even a couple years ago. Frank believes changes to the game to speed up play and young, exciting players like Elly De La Cruz are going to make the game more fun to watch as fans. But there’s no better way to get kids involved than by having them play the game, he said.
“We just want to support kids to play the game, and we did that in style here tonight,” added Frank.
Events on Friday weren’t limited to the on-field action either. Earlier in the day, a group of about 30 volunteers from PNC Bank spent several hours helping to beautify the spaces in and around the diamond. They painted bleachers, benches and storage facilities, and mulched flower beds. They even cleaned up the ivy along the brick wall overlook sitting 30 or so feet behind home plate.
Originally dedicated as PNC Field in 2011, the field renovation was a collaboration between the Reds Community Fund and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. CRC operates the field and the other playing areas surrounding LeBlond Recreation Center.
Reds CEO Bob Castellini, 81, described the new-look field as a major upgrade to the “horrible” fields he grew up playing on more than 65 years ago.
“This is as good as Crosley Field,” he joked.
PNC has been a partner of the Reds Community Fund since 2000, but Frank said they’ve really “stepped up to the plate” recently. This year alone they’re committing volunteer hours and funds to renovate about three-dozen neighborhood fields, Frank said.
PNC Field is the regular home to the East End’s District 5 Knothole teams.
Jessica Yankie, PNC’s senior vice president and director of community relations, said it’s important for the bank and its employees to give back to the communities where they live and work. They give each employee the opportunity to do 40 hours of paid volunteer hours every year.
“What better way to do that to come out and contribute the man-power and hours to renovate an urban ball field that will then result in a safe place for kids in this community to play,” she said.
The work on Friday was part of the first major renovation of PNC Field in more than a decade. The field looked like a traditional dirt-surface ball field until about a month ago when Cincinnati-based Playground Equipment Services constructed and installed a new synthetic infield. They also built a custom home run fence to make the facility tailor-made to host a championship-level field for youth baseball and softball, Frank said.
Neither Price nor Sand had ever played on a synthetic field before. They said it was a “little different” at first, but they appreciated the softness of the surface. Their parents might also appreciate not having to get grass and dirt stains out of their pants after the game.
Ahead of Friday's first pitch, leaders from the city, PNC, the Reds and others held a formal rededication ceremony for the first pitch.
Mayor Aftab Pureval attended the game with his son, Bodhi. He called youth sports an important investment in our future.
“When I look at a program like Play Ball, I see it as a perfect example of how we all when our businesses, or communities and our cities work together,” he said.