pp电子国家发生了什么事

Many area boys grow up playing baseball in their local recreation leagues. But all boys grow up and eventually age out of those leagues.

Some continue on to high school baseball, but for most, their baseball careers end. 

Four recent Lake Catholic graduates weren’t satisfied with their baseball days being over, 所以他们决定做点什么. Now, three years later, what they’ve started has become larger than they ever could have imagined.

7月27日星期六， 尼克Regano, 尼克Pellecchia, 安德鲁Zalar, 雅各Minich, 全部来自2023届毕业生, will host The Third Annual Regano Wiffle Ball Tournament at Mentor Ridge Elementary School. 

“We all played rec baseball together and we didn’t want it to end,雷加诺说。, 肯特州立大学金融专业的学生. “So, we got a bunch of kids together one day to play wiffle ball. More and more kids wanted to play, we ended up turning it into a tournament. 那是第一年. 我们真的不知道我们在做什么. 真是一团糟. And here we are now, about to start our third tournament.”

比赛可不是闹着玩的. Gone are the days of just getting a group of kids to play wiffle ball in an open field. This tournament takes nine months of planning, 有五页的规则手册吗, 有一个小卖部, draws in family and friends who come to watch, awards prize money to the winners and runners-up, 现在, 最重要的是对经营公司的人来说, 慈善成分. 

第一年他们有19支队伍参加比赛. 去年增加到32个. They liked that number, so this year’s tournament is again capped at 32 teams. There are eight four-team divisions, with each team guaranteed to play three games. The top two teams in each division then advance to a single-elimination bracket to determine the champion. 
冠军队伍赢得1000美元. The runners-up get their money back (there is a $15 per person entry fee).

去年, all the proceeds from the concession stand were donated to JBS Strong, a childhood cancer foundation in honor of the late Jack Sawyer, 是门特高中的学生. 

“All the food and stuff are donated, so everything we make goes to the charity,” Regano said. “This year we reached out to Jack’s family to see if there was someone else, we could donate to. This year all our concession proceeds are going to Addie Strong.” 

Addie is a young girl from Mentor who has been diagnosed with medulloblastoma.

“We’re really trying to make the charity an integral part of this,扎拉说, 他在俄亥俄州立大学主修金融. “We hopefully will have more than $1,000 to give to them this year. We know it’s not a good look if we’re giving $1,给获胜的队伍000英镑, 但捐给慈善机构的钱不多. So we’re going to really push our concessions this year and try to raise as much money as we can.”

They already have a $500 commitment from the tournament sponsor, Regano Financial 服务s Inc.

到目前为止, the tournament has only brought in male competitors, but the organizers said that’s just a coincidence, they aren’t opposed to having females compete. The ages range from 12/13-year-olds to guys in their 50s and 60s. Although most of the teams are comprised of high school and college-aged kids from all over the area, 包括来自门托高中的球员, 科特兰, 和NDCL. Pellecchia, 代顿大学刑事司法专业的学生, said that about 50-60% of the players are either current Lake Catholic students or alumni.

穿上它, the four talk at least once a week the entire year just about wiffle ball, 然后在6月和7月增加. They have to build and repair their strike zones. They also have to work with Ridge Elementary School to reserve the field for three days – one to set up, 一个来玩, 还有一个需要清理.

“The fields take a long time to get set up,Pellecchia说. 

“We’ve learned a lot in two years,” Zalar said. “We have to turn our fields in a different direction. We were losing too many home run balls in the woods.”

“It’s to the point where I only ask for wiffle balls and other stuff for Christmas,” Regano said. “I’ll also go to Dick’s (Sporting Goods) in the winter to buy stuff because no one is playing wiffle ball then. 所以我知道他们会有很多存货.”

所有的栅栏都是橙色的雪栅栏. Everyone must use the plain yellow bats provided. They use plenty of spray paint to draw the field and basepaths. They use real rubber bases and pitching rubber.

比赛日, 游戏是自我判断的, although they do look for volunteers to help ump the playoff games, 尤其是在奖金岌岌可危的情况下.

“这很有趣, 竞争确实很激烈, 但无非是些废话,Pellecchia说. “We did think about last year being our last year doing it since we were all going off to college. We kind of used it as a last hurrah before we went off to college, but now it will serve as a reunion for a lot of us. So I’m glad that we decided to keep it going.”

Anyone looking for more information check out the tournament Instagram page at @reganowiffleballclassic. If you’re interested in signing up for this year’s tournament, you can do so by filling out 这个Google表单.