Young player recounts trip (9/21/04)

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Puerto Rico with the Coast to Coast Amateur Stars baseball team. I made this team through a tryout in Fort Wayne.

I played five games the week I was in Puerto Rico with the team. My coach was a former major league pitcher for the Seattle Mariners and the San Francisco Giants.

He is now a professional scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The point of the trip was to make you a better baseball player and to give you the experience of playing baseball at the college level. The trip was also about meeting new people, which I met a lot of. I had roommates from Texas and Kentucky.

Our team practiced at the Roberto Clemente Memorial Baseball Complex and we also played against Roberto Clemente’s grandson.

After the games the opposing team would feed us Puerto Rican food. We also got a chance to meet the Puerto Rican players.

My favorite parts of the trip were practicing on the Montreal Expos’ and the Toronto Blue Jays’ spring training fields, meeting the Puerto Rican players and riding the charter buses to the games.

I’d like to thank the following organizations and people for making this trip possible: My mom and dad, grandma and grandpa White, grandma and grandpa Vance, Aunt Lisa and Uncle Ruby, Deb and Steve Whitenack, Mark’s Heating & Air Conditioning in Decatur, Portland Lion’s Club, Tri-Kappa Sorority and the many people who helped support my trip.

Ben Vance

Portland

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