From The Sunshine Baseball League
There were a lot of happy faces on Thursday, Oct. 5 when the new Academy Sports + Outdoors store, at 1320 Carl D. Silver Parkway in Fredericksburg’s Central Park, thrilled 25 FredNats Sunshine Baseball League Powered by REC players by giving them free $150 shopping sprees.
Members of the University of Mary Washington baseball team paired up with young Sunshine Baseball League players to help them shop at the store, which held its grand opening on Oct. 6.
“This is an amazingly kind, thoughtful, and caring thing for a company like Academy Sports + Outdoors to do,” said Mike Zitz, president of the youth league founded by the late Doris Buffett. “The kids are so excited and grateful.”
The group included a number of Afghan refugee children who played baseball for the first time this summer.
Sunshine Baseball needs to raise more money each year than typical youth leagues so that no child is turned away because their family can’t afford player fees. It also provides players from families with financial need with free gear and uniforms.
One local child had played for several years but never owned a new baseball glove, his appreciative mother said. He got a brand new one, along with a kit with glove oil to break it in, thanks to Academy. Some of the players who came got sneakers to wear to ballgames—and to school—after having played baseball in sandals this summer, Zitz said.
Batting gloves are a particularly hot item with the Afghan refugee children, who are eager to be outfitted the same way American teammates who’ve grown up here are, Zitz said. He said the Afghan children had played cricket, and that experience, along with their excitement and enthusiasm, quickly translated into positive
