Stepping up to the plate this season is our Norman North baseball team. Just last month our baseball boys had their first pitch dinner on February 9th, themed “The Best Show On Dirt,” located in the Nancy O’Brien Center, as players’ families and coaches came together to celebrate and kick off the season.

The first pitch dinner was an annual and fun-filled time for families and friends to eat together and listen to Coach Alylor give his wonderful speech about his journey to being a coach at Norman North High School. He also gave recognition to the other coaches and read inspiring and hilarious quotes from our baseball players. 

The first pitch dinner according to Megan Shearer is a “kickoff of the season, meet all the players and raise a little money while we’re at it.” Megan Shearer is a Freshman baseball mom. The goal of raising money for the first pitch dinner was $15,000. Melaine Moulton, a freshman baseball mom as well, said “the 10,000 is what they were hoping to get based on what they had budgeted for the year. We decided to ask for 15, to see how we can get more.” The money raised is used for a variety of purposes. Melaine Moulton explains, “We have three teams, and we need additional money for maintenance on the facilities,” she also mentioned “uniforms, and umpire fees,” as she previously explained how the district gives them $2,000 for the entire season.” Money is also needed for the traveling buses. Moulton also said, “I mean, everything goes into the program, and so, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the field out there, but we’re pretty lucky to have the field we have here at Norman North and it takes a lot of fundraising to keep it going.”

At the first pitch dinner, they had some fun ways to raise money. There were deserts brought by families for others to bid on to win their dessert of choice. They also had a raffle as Jenny Kirkland, another baseball mom of freshmen, explained, “All these items have been donated by local, people in our community,” and that these items would be, “a good prize people could bid on and, all the money and proceeds go to the baseball organization.” 

Successfully our baseball team hit their home run in achieving their goal and we can cheer them on as they continue to play ball.