Softball Classic Recap
Okay, I’m a little late in posting about the Classic, but better late than never, right? Right. Here goes!
Saturday morning, August 7th, around 8:00 in the morning we started the day off at Laderman Park. The oldest seven of us minus Jude arrived at the park in order to begin our setup there. We met with Mandy, a family friend, and we’d be joined by several other helpers as the day progressed. We started off by unloading the cars that contained different supplies, such as tablecloths, games, cookies, etc. After we unloaded, the group of us that were there gathered near the pavilion and prayed for the entire day, from the setup in the morning all the way to the tear-down in the evening.
We then started rearranging dozens of metal picnic tables that were scattered across the park. After that, we taped a white plastic tablecloth on the surface of each table. Once finished with those, we set up six- and eight-foot folding tables around the pavilion and did the same with the tablecloth. Throughout the entire morning and early afternoon, I ran several errands, ranging from visiting our old house to pick up some clear tape to picking up 18 pizzas from Fairview Heights that were donated to going to pick up another roll of tablecloth from the supply store on West Main Street.
Around 10:45 AM, I left with Paul to go to our old house on West Main Street in order to load up our portable basketball backboard and rim into the truck. After that, we split ways and I headed towards Fairview Heights. My objective was to pick up three pizzas that were donated from Pantera’s Pizza. After that, I picked up a friend of mine, Ethan, who agreed to help out at the Classic. After I picked him up, we stopped by Mazzio’s Pizza on 159 and picked up 15 pizzas that they so generously donated for the workers to eat.
After returning to Laderman around lunchtime, we ate some of the pizza, then Ethan and I headed over to the smaller softball diamond to set up a couple of games. One was the popular radar pitching stand, where people will throw a baseball against the backstop, and an officer from the Belleville Police Department will hold out a radar gun and tell the thrower his or her pitching speed. We set up a picnic table and some flags on a rope in order to establish the location of both stands.
Next was the basketball stand. That was pretty simple. It basically consisted of bringing a picnic table out there, tying the flagged rope and taping on signs for the game.
Soon after setting up those games with Ethan, I had to leave to go to our new house to pick up Jude and the chubs (aka the younger ones in the family). He was feverishly working on the final details of a scorecard he created for both softball games. I helped him out with a few details, we printed a stack of them and headed out the door.
We arrived back at Laderman around 5:00 PM, and the event was well under way. We unloaded the chubs, brought them into a fenced-in area behind the backstop of the larger field. This area was right by the Autograph Zone, and it served as kind of a big playpen for the little guys — a safe area, where they could play and still be by Mom and Dad during the busyness of the event.
Around 6:00, Ray King pulled into Laderman Park. Dad and John escorted him into the dugout area of the field, where he put on a specially-made Safe At Home jersey with his name and number on the back. He then started signing some autographs, as there was a very long line of people who had purchased Autograph Zone tickets, and they were patiently waiting for Ray’s arrival.
Now came a big scare. Dad had realized that when writing out directions from St. Louis to Belleville for Reggie Sanders and Ray King, that he had somehow accidentally instructed them to take I-64 West instead of East. Well, Ray had noticed the mistake almost immediately and called Dad while on the road to get the correct directions. So Ray arrived pretty much on time. Reggie, however, was nowhere to be seen. Dad kept trying to get a hold of him on his cell phone to tell him about the mistake, but Reggie’s phone wasn’t on.
At that point, Dad told the older guys about the little dilemma, and we just prayed that God would get Reggie to the park. It was a really scary time, because Reggie, being new to the St. Louis area this year, would have been headed out west, in the complete wrong direction, and we worried that he might not even notice that he was off track until it was too late for him to come over to Belleville.
Well, we decided to go ahead and start Game One, which was scheduled for 6:30, without Reggie. We had batting practice, and Ray King even took some swings, hitting quite a few out of the 250-foot park.
After BP, we were getting ready to start the game when John spotted a Hummer pulling into the park. John quickly called Dad, telling him that it might be Reggie’s vehicle. Dad asked Ray what kind of car Reggie drove. Ray confirmed that it was a Hummer, and there was an amazing sense of relief when I saw that SUV driving through the parking lot.
Out stepped Reggie and his wife, Wyndee. Reggie was wearing his navy Safe At Home jersey with “Sanders” and the number 16 printed on the back. He made his way down the field, and the crowd welcomed him with cheers and applause.
A few minutes later, Game One had begun. Reggie was our pitcher, and Ray King played first base. We shut out the other team — the Community All Stars — in the first inning. Now, it was time for the Safe At Home All Stars to go to work. Ray King was our leadoff man, and he quickly smacked the softball over the centerfield fence to give us a 1-0 lead.
Reggie’s first at bat resulted in a groundout to the left side, but he hit two home runs by game’s end, including one that he absolutely crushed over the fence. Him and Ray each had two home runs during the game, and they each had ones that just sailed out of the park. It’s lots of fun to watch major leaguers play softball. 
I managed to hit a solo home run, pulling a line drive over the right field wall. Unfortunately, though, we lost Game One. After signing some more autographs, Reggie Sanders and Ray King decided it was time to head back to St. Louis. They were so much fun! Those guys are very humble, and I think they just had a really good time getting to meet people, sign autographs, and play some softball. They did, however, give us their Safe At Home jerseys, and they were kind of enough to autograph theirs.
Our team didn’t really do any better in the second game, as the Community All Stars just kept on hitting home runs. We made some comebacks, but unfortunately we fell short and lost Game Two as well. Both games were very much fun, and by the end of the second one I was pretty well fried! My legs were really sore, but it was so well worth it. We had a great time!
After the second game, it was pretty much time to close down. Before ending, we finished up some silent auctions and sold both of the autographed Safe At Home jerseys. All done!
It was an amazing day. We had so many helpers, including quite a few who visited from out of state to pitch in. So let me take this opportunity to thank some folks! Major thanks to: Mandy, Bobby Jo, Brandy, Gina, Erin, Sharon, Jim, Ethan, Nathan P., Grandpa Arndt, Maggie, Jessie B., Jessie P., Nick, Bob, Kathleen, Todd, Nathan S., Joel, Dan, Kelly, Dave, Christy, Julie, Doris, Judy, Bruce the umpire, and all of the other folks who contributed their time and efforts to help make the day run smoothly! These guys were amazing! Also, thanks to Reggie Sanders and Ray King and the Belleville Police Department, who sent a couple officers over to the event in order to keep everyone safe, and one officer who held out the radar gun for the pitching stand. (By the way, I threw a few pitches, registering at 69 MPH all three times.)
I think that’s about it. It was one amazing day. If you didn’t come, you really should have! How about next year, okay?
This is, by far, my longest post in this journal. But… I just had a bunch to say about the Classic! I thank God for working everything together so well. It just shows, yet again, that He is totally in control. What if Reggie ended up driving west for two hours and was halfway to Kansas City? There was nothing we could do about that. Thankfully, somehow he made it to the park, and everything turned out wonderfully. These two Cardinal players are just really generous guys.
That’s it, guys. End of book. =)