Submitted Article
Crofton Volunteer Fields hosted the second annual Northeast Nebraska Baseball Camp for youth ages 6-14 on Saturday, April 5th in Crofton.
Though it was a bit of a chilly day, the sun was shining and the nearly 90 participants enjoyed getting back onto the baseball diamond.
The boys who attended camp came from a variety of towns including Bloomfield, Crofton, Hartington, Newcastle, Pierce, St. Helena, Wausa, and Wynot.
Before camp got underway the boys picked up their t-shirts and then ate a meal (a hot dog, chips, a bar, and a bottle of water).
Camp got underway at noon as the kids were divided up and sent to do station work at their respective fields (the grass field, the top field, and the bottom field.)
The stations included drills pertaining to defense, throwing, hitting, and baserunning. The camp was fortunate to have a number of volunteers who did the coaching.
Not only did several people share the coaching responsibilities that came along with running the camp, but also people donated their time to help with other responsibilities as well: setting up for the meal, setting up the fields, serving the meal, helping with registration, and handing out prizes,
After the stations finished, the different age groups scrimmaged for over an hour. The 12U/14U game took place on the top field; the 10U scrimmage took place on the bottom field, and the 8U scrimmage was at the grass field.
When the scrimmages finished, all the age groups convened to take a group picture and to earn some prizes.
Two campers won tickets to a Minnesota Twins game in July. These were Marcus Haberman from Wynot and Bentley Sears from Hartington.
These tickets were donated by the Twins and were just a few of the prizes that were donated by area businesses.
“It’s amazing how generous the people in our community were to help make this event possible for our kids,” said Scott Morrison, organizer.
The list of donations included the following:
-People’s Grocery of Crofton donated all of the hot dogs
-Frito Lay of Yankton donated chips, sunflower seeds, and cheese and peanut butter crackers.
-Culligan of Yankton donated all the water.
-Dairy Queen of Yankton donated free ice-cream cone coupons.
-Arby’s of Yankton donated free sandwich coupons.
-Riverfront Broadcasting of Yankton donated Mall of America passes
-The Mount Marty University baseball team donated Lancer apparel, including hats and t-shirts.
-M and W Portable gave two portables for half price.
“Overall, the camp turned out to be an amazing experience. The kids got a chance to get outside and play ball and hopefully learned a few things to help them improve their baseball skills,” said Morrison. “Thank you to all of the volunteers and donors who made this camp possible. The proceeds of the camp will be used to put back into the fields.”