Long Ball Program – Durham Triple Play Leagues

Happy but tired baseball players.

Myra Blackwell writes from St Paul, MN:

Did you miss us?

It’s time to come home!

This email will be brief, as we are going through security. We had two great games yesterday against Pawtucket, RI and Birmingham, AL.

The home run derby was one to remember and the kids had a blast! After receiving our parting gifts it was time to finish packing and say our goodbyes to our new friends.

I’ll write more later and post pictures as well. See you soon!

Myra

Myra Blackwell writes from St Paul, MN…

Good morning all,

It’s a little chilly this morning, but a beautiful day for baseball. I am hoping to finally have access to a computer today so that I may forward some pictures from the camera. It also seems to take forever to type these emails from my phone and the auto correct setting always seems to sneak in a typo or two. But none the less…

We had an awesome day yesterday! We started the day with a game against Saskatoon, Canada. You should be very proud of your young men that played with great sportsmanship, making the game one to remember for both teams.

After lunch we made our way to Target field, home field for the Minnesota Twins, for the Futures game and the Celebrity Softball game. We all were excited for the opportunity to be in a major league stadium and felt like celebrities ourselves. While waiting in the tunnel for opening ceremonies we watched Adrien Peterson walk in, who high-fived players – They swore they would never wash that hand again. All 12 Jr RBI Classics teams entered into the stadium from left field. We paraded across the field and stood along the infield as they introduced each city in attendance and the spotlight was on us.

Both games were fun to watch and it was a treat to be in such a nice facility. We enjoyed ballpark food for dinner and it was back to the dorms for an early night. We were all exhausted and the kids had no objections when they were told it was time for lights out.

This morning they are dragging a little, but hopefully they will be alert and ready to play after the bus ride to the park. We have 2 games this morning and the home run derby this evening. I’m not sure which network the derby is on, but tune in. You may see us in the crowd!

Have a great day!

Myra

Monday pictures

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Myra Blackwell writes from St Paul, MN…

After a long first day, we weren’t thrilled about the early start, but we were at breakfast at 6:45 am to prepare for our first game against Tampa, FL. The weather was cloudy with steady sprinkles that didn’t seem heavy enough to keep us from taking the field. The rain began to pick up and were finally canceled for the morning as the morning showers got heavy.

Bored and stuck inside because of the rain, we had to find something to keep them occupied for the next few hours. We found a security guard in the Arts building that saved the day! (And our sanity) He gave us access to a game room with ping pong, pool tables, darts and arcade games with free play – YAY!! Rainy day problem solved, for now.

After lunch we headed to the gym for our community service project with Kids Against Hunger. It’s a great program that works to reduce the number of hungry children in the USA and to feed starving children throughout the world. They ship meals to starving children and their families in over 60 countries throughout the world. For one hour we package meal mixtures that consisted of white grain rice, crushed soy, dehydrated vegetables, and a vitamin and mineral powered. Once all the ingredients are in the bag it’s weighed to make sure its the proper amount and sealed to be boxed and shipped. The kids were setup as an assembly line with a job of scooping or weighing ingredients to create the meal bags. Thanks to our time with this project, we will help to feed 30,000 children and their families.

Finally after an early dinner…it was time to play ball! Our first opponent was from Lancaster, Texas. We drove through downtown rush hour traffic that was a lot easier to navigate than they expected, putting us at the park about 1.5 hours early. Both team took advantage of the time to get some practice in. The teams played great and were happy to finally play in a game.

We finished the night with some pizza and little ESPN in the lounge, then rest for the upcoming day.

Today’s [Saturday] a big day! We play the home team, Minnesota, at 8:30 am followed by Mt Vernon, NY at 11. We finally head to the All-Star week events with Fanfest this evening.

We hope that all is well all is well at home and we’ll check in again soon!

Myra

Pictures from Friday

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Myra Blackwell writes from St Paul, MN…

Good morning parents!

I’ll try to send updates so that you know what’s going on while we are here.Yesterday was a full and eventful first day in St. Paul. The kids did great on the flight – even those who had never flown before. We could see the nervous excitement, especially as we waited on the runway preparing for takeoff. But they were brave and I think everyone is okay to try it again to go home 🙂

We were met at the airport by RBI residential security agents who transported us, by coach bus, to Concordia University – St Paul. All of the residential security agents are police officers in their respective cities (cities like Los Angeles and Chicago) and will be responsible for making sure that the participant’s have a safe stay during their time her. Once we arrived at Concordia we were greeted by a camera crew who filmed and took pictures of us as if we were celebrities. While we are here, RBI will get plenty of footage to create promotional video for their 2015 Jr RBI Classics and may interview participants to find out what this experience and baseball means to them.

Once we checked into our dorm rooms (that are surprisingly spacious), we headed over to receive our uniforms. Our team jerseys are the Cincinnati Reds. Some of the shirts are a little big or small and the kids weren’t excited about the elastic pants, but we told them they’ll look good playing in whatever they wear. They also received a name tag to be worn at all times, hats, and two event shirts so that it will be clear that they are a part of our group when we attend All Star activities.

All together, there are 143 participants here and we all headed over to a parks and rec field that was newly built and being dedicated with speakers from the Twins organization, a former MLB pitcher and Cal Ripken, Jr (former MLB shortstop and Cal Ripken Foundation founder). Afterwards the kids played a fun game that helped to drain some energy -which we were thankful for 🙂

Breakfast is at 6:45 this morning and we play at 9 – Our game was pushed back 30 minutes while we wait for the catchers equipment to be delivered. It’s overcast with some sprinkles but I think we will play on.

Have a great day!

Pictures from Thursday:

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Friendly, Round-Robin Tournament Will Be Played During MLB All-Star Week, July 10th-14th, On Baseball and Softball Fields throughout the Twin Cities. Off-field Experiences to Include Participating in MLB All-Star Week Events, Meeting Current and Former Major Leaguers, Community Service and Exposure to a College Campus. Read more…