First responders such as police officers and firefighters, risk their lives everyday for the citizens of their city. The Eagles make sure to give them credit with an annual baseball game, hosted by StuCo. This year, Quinn Scrogin (10), Olivia Washburn (11), and Ainsley Hirtz (10), ran the event on May 12.
StuCo was selling t-shirts, with a logo for Fastballs for First Responders, for $12. They also held a raffle to help raise money for Responder Rescue program, which supports first responders and their families.
The first responders have expressed their gratitude towards this event, having a great time all around.
“We’re very appreciative of this event that we’ve come to for a couple of years now and we really enjoy coming,” Officer Ingrin said. “Thank you for inviting us and we love being here.”
The varsity baseball team manager, Emily Griffith (11), announced players names, the event, and other important information during the entire game.
“The event is fun, it’s a good way to get more people to come to the games, and involve the community,” Griffith said.
Senior night was May 13, but a player, Davis Mueth (12), was not able to attend because of an ankle surgery scheduled for that day. Because of this, Coach Reeder decided to honor him at the first responders game before it started.
“It’s kind of [disappointing] that I won’t be with the rest of the guys but I’m really happy my coach, Mark Reeder, made it happen for today,” Mueth said.
After Mueth was represented, the student resource officer, Officer Stearns, walked out and threw a pitch to the catcher, Caden Thornton (12).
Officer Stearns left the field and the game began. The Eagles were prepared to play against St. Charles.
Since it was technically Mueth’s senior night and he was injured, Coach Reeder let him throw the first pitch of the game to a St. Charles player. Ryan Dobratz (11) took over after that, for the first few innings of the game.
The Eagles played hard the entire game, with starting it off strong in the first inning, only letting up one run, and scoring three.
In between innings, players such as Chase Eckley (11) and Cooper Gilliam (12), hacky sack to pass the time. This has become a new game they play for fun and they are planning on continuing it to next year.
After being up 9-3 at the start of the sixth inning, the Eagles wanted to end the game early with a mercy. They only needed to score four more runs to achieve this.
Jackson Ryan (12) hit first, making it to first base. Up next was Thornton and he hit it out of the park, making this his third home run of the season. The Eagles scored one more time after that in the sixth inning, but was not able to achieve their goal of ending the game early.
In the final inning, the seventh, St. Charles scored one more run, which allowed the game to end early without the Eagles hitting again and leaving them in victory. Representing the first responders in this game, the Eagles were proud of their win, with a score of 12-4. The Eagles improved their record to 15-15.
The varsity baseball team and StuCo, both take months to prepare for this event and it pays off every year.
