The University of Scranton baseball team spent five days in January in the Dominican Republic to play four games and perform community service, traveling from Santo Domingo to San Pedro De Macoris to Boca Chica.
The team was greeted by Major League Baseball players, worked on its game, met children at a local orphanage and, near the end of its trip, held a baseball clinic for children of all ages.
Sophomore outfielder Chase Standen chronicled the five days through several blog posts. Even practice in the Dominican Republic, he wrote, was eventful.
“It was incredible how quickly our practice became a community event. With Spanish music playing throughout the duration of our practice, we all seemed to have a good time,” he wrote. “Some members of the team went beyond their comfort zones to try to communicate with the players, even though they knew little to no Spanish.”
The team’s head coach, Mike Bartoletti, said he was proud of his players.
“This trip was a very eye-opening experience for my team and me,” said Bartoletti. “The team did an outstanding job of representing The University of Scranton. I feel that we made a positive impression in every person’s life that we came in contact with during our stay.”
Standen, who called visiting the orphanage a highlight of the trip, reflected on his and his team’s time in the Dominican Republic in his “Day Five” post:
Over the course of our trip, we played three incredible teams and shared a baseball field with former MLB players. We met people at the hotel from all walks of life and met more while playing ball. We shared our stories with them, and they shared theirs. From practicing with a 14-year-old Red Sox prospect, to shaking current Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura’s hand, and even talking with Arno, Lobo, and Eddie from Sammy’s crew, it was truly an honor to see, up front and personal, how an incredible culture has been built around a game. Nowhere else will you find such a universal love for baseball.
Even with all of these once-in-a-lifetime baseball experiences, our trip gave us more beyond the field than we expected. Nothing can beat bringing a smile to the face of a child who hasn’t smiled in a long time, nor the sound of laughter coming from a child who has every reason in life not to be happy. In a couple of months, we might forget names, in a couple of years, we might forget how we played while we were there, but for a lifetime, we will remember what it was like to make a child who thinks no one cares feel like the most important person in the world.
On top of that, we have made long-lasting memories as a team and grown closer to each other in four days than we have in the past four months. I know for a fact that we would do it all again in a heartbeat.
Read more, here.
