Even among amateurs, there are baseball players who can be called “money players.”
They seem to come through with a key hit or strikeout in a game.
Mountain Pointe hopes to have some of those money players in the lineup next week when they go to bat or to the mound to raise money in “Hits for Haiti,” a fundraiser to help victims of January’s earthquake in Haiti.
Pride freshmen, junior varsity and varsity players are getting sponsors in Ahwatukee Foothills to pledge donations for singles, doubles, triples or home runs in games from Monday April 19 through Saturday April 24.
Pitchers on all three levels can also get pledges for strikeouts, two, one or no-hit games or a save.
Pledge amounts can start as low as $5 for a single or $10 for a double for hitters or the same for strikeouts or retiring the side in order.
Even players who don’t get in a game that week can get pledges.
The program is sponsored by SCORE International, a non-profit Christian-based ministry that helped organize a similar program with the University of Kentucky basketball team. That drive raised more than $1 million in relief funds. The local baseball program hopes to raise $100.000.
Pride freshman Brantley Bell was challenged to bring the program to Mountain Pointe by Don Gordon, who works for SCORE and was a teammate with Brantley’s father, Jay Bell, when they both played for the Cleveland Indians.
Players’ game statistics will be available after the final game of the week and tax-deductible pledge forms are available from any Mountain Pointe baseball player.
