Submitted by Darren Hamrey
The first Serpent Baseball Alumni Weekend gets underway this weekend, May 24-26. The Serpent Baseball Alumni Association was created after last year’s Armed Forces Day Alumni Game which featured 23 former MCHS Baseball players.
This year’s event will host a wide array of chances for MCHS Baseball players of old to get involved and help the high school program they were once a part of. Whether you played under the coaches of the 1950-1960’s, or under coaches Neville, Bishop, Horn, Allen, or Hamrey, we invite you to take part in this weekend’s events.
This event is a chance for us to come together as a Serpent Baseball family, compete in the spirit of MCHS athletics, and raise funds for the current MCHS Baseball Program. All of the events are designed to help raise those funds so, as we did last year, there will be a $40 entry fee for each event. We have designed the weekend so that we have a little something to do for ex-ball players of all ages. We will kick off the weekend under the lights at the county softball park with a slow pitch softball game. This will be a loose format so teams will be determined prior to the start of the game.
The next day will be filled with numerous activities, starting with a golf tournament (scramble) for those who would rather swing a club than a bat. Following that will be the baseball game, a nine inning affair between the older alumni vs the younger alumni. The evening event will be a banquet dinner at the El Capitan, complete with raffles, silent auctions, and a door prize. And for those that need it the next morning, there will be a farewell breakfast.
As a follow up, we would like to add just how important fundraising is to high school athletic programs such as ours. In 2015 we put together a long-term plan for program and field improvements. Since then we raised thousands of dollars through our efforts and the efforts of many generous local and non-local donors. With those funds we have drastically improved the baseball program. In the summer of 2015 we broke ground on the Steve Bowles Hitting Facility. We built a triple cage, complete with two pitching machines. This facility has been used by Little League and Senior League teams as well.
Since building this facility, the Serpents have led their division in team batting average in every season. In 2017 we installed training tools in both bullpens and laid the ground work for the installation up Little League length mounds as well. In 2018 we built the Dubhouse, a training and weight lifting facility, and rebuilt the mound with clay bricks. In 2019 we completed the last leg of the Steve Bowles Hitting Facility by installing the enclosed curveball cage. Our next goal is to build a clubhouse that extends from the home dugout followed by replacing the chain link and the ultimate installation of lights.
The funds raised over the weekend will get us one step closer to achieving these goals.
