https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2021/09/20/venice-challenger-baseball-returns-action-honors-rich-carroll/8315613002/
Earl Kimel, Sarasota Herald Tribune, Sept 20, 2021
VENICE – Almost three dozen Venice Challenger Baseball athletes got their introduction to the fall baseball season via Les McCurdy Saturday afternoon at the new Challenger Field of Dreams baseball complex.
“Challenger baseball at its best,” McCurdy said, shortly after thanking the Venice High School Chorus for singing the National Anthem. “Who cares about NCAA football, we’ve got Challenger baseball. That’s right, we’ve got the players right here ready to go and you’re going to get to meet each and every one of them!”
McCurdy, owner of McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre – where he hosts the Special O’Laughics – and a huge proponent of both Challenger baseball and the Special Olympics, went on to introduce every player, complete with a little background that covered their favorite food and hobbies and offered them a chance to say something to the audience.
One of McCurdy’s Special O’Laughics vets, Jonathan “J.C.” Chace, was ready for his turn at the mic and made the most of it.
“I want to give a big shout-out to my buddies David Jones and Meredith Michaels at 107.9 WSRZ and a big shout-out to everybody at iHeart Media in Sarasota and Tampa,” said Chace, who is visually impaired but often opts to use the traditional Challenger ball instead of a special beep ball mode. “And I’m going to hit a home run tonight that will knock the radio towers out of the county.”
Gianna Falbo and Jonathan Chace run to first base after hitting during a Venice Challenger baseball game Saturday afternoon in Venice. DAN WAGNER,SARASOTA-HERALD TRIBUNE
Chace went on give a shout-out to his buddy, Coach Rich – Rich Carroll, the founder and driving force behind Venice Challenger Baseball and its mission to serve all athletes, as well as its quest for the two-field complex, which is at 920 Gulf Coast Boulevard, tucked in behind the Robert and Joan Lee Boys & Girls Club.
Carroll died in July at age 72 but did get to see a livestreamed practice game of athletes playing at the complex, which features a specialized rubber field that’s better for wheelchair athletes.
Chace went on to talk about his favorite foods, which are carrot cake, barbecue ribs and chicken wings, as well has his favorite part about Challenger baseball.
“My favorite part about Challenger Baseball is getting a pretty girl to help me around the bases,” Chace quipped.
At that McCurdy shot back, “The only thing is, there’s no pretty girls to help you run the bases – I have to do it.
“Sorry J.C.” McCurdy continued, then added, “OK, we’ll find a pretty girl.”
Chace actually had at least one and sometimes two young ladies buddy up with him for his time on the base paths.
Nancy Carroll threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“And I think Rich would want you to throw a curve-sinker,” McCurdy coached.
Nancy Carroll threw an easy strike to catcher/coach Tony Spahn.
“My pitch, it was right on, that’s what they said,” she said afterwards.
Saturday marked the first time that athletes for Venice Challenger Baseball were able to take the field since the March 2020 COVID-19 pandemic shutdown cut short their season, when the league was still playing on Chuck Reiter Field in Venice.
“We couldn’t have played at Chuck Reiter, we’d have been rained out, it would have been muddy,” Price noted. Typically, the players would have been split into more teams, with the older players using the traditional field with a clay infield.
Instead, partly because of the recent rains, all of the athletes used the clay field.
Izabella Lupia challenges the pitcher during a Venice Challenger baseball game Saturday afternoon in Venice. DAN WAGNER, Sarasota -Herald Tribune
Friday night, at a special thank-you ceremony for Venice Challenger sponsors who helped either through financial or in-kind contributions to build the new complex, incoming Venice Challenger President Mike Beaumier said the league had to be especially cautious because many of the athletes were in high-risk categories for contracting COVID-19.
In historical terms, Mia Affeldt, representing the west dugout team, got the first hit on the new field – a sharp single past pitcher/coach Steve Price – and later came around to score on the next hit.
That happens a lot in Challenger baseball, along with aggressive baserunning and inside-the-park home runs – accompanied by buddies for added safety – laughs and cheers.
The Sunset Chevrolet scoreboard had the west dugout team doubling the run production of the north dugout team, with an edge of 32-16. But the north team never got another turn at-bat because the hamburger and hot dog feast prepared by volunteers from One Christ Won City was ready.
Nancy Carroll was heartened by the turnout.
“Incredible how many kids have showed up, so many kids – new kids,” she said. “Unbelievable; Richard would be proud.”
Jonathan Clark, 22, one of those new athletes, signed up Saturday after seeing the league in the newspaper, his mother Ruth Morgan said.
“He loves it,” she said. “We actually live up near Bradenton and our in-laws live here in Venice.
They were taking part in the Venice Presbyterian Church “Buddy Break” when they learned about the local Challenger Division, but he had also played in leagues in North Carolina and Michigan.
The Venice Challenger Division operates under the auspices and insurance of Venice Little League, as other Challenger Division programs do under their parent Little Leagues.
After the game Price, who will succeed Carroll as coach and also serves as the program’s chaplain, gathered the athletes together for a post-game prayer, team-led pep talks and a final cheer that after a one-two-three countdown is usually “Challenger.”
They changed it Saturday; on the suggestion of the players, it was changed to “Coach Rich.”
So, on the count of three, they all cheered “Coach Rich!”
“That was pretty good,” Price said. “One time was good enough.”
Before he died, Rich Carroll requested that the field not be named in his honor but, as McCurdy noted in his opening talk, he will forever be intertwined with the ballpark.
“His legacy lives on every time one of these kids hit this field,” McCurdy said. “And that’s going to be happening for 100 years.”
Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate
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