WILDER – Cincinnati Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart delivered a hit for Northern Kentucky high school ballplayers Wednesday.
Representatives of Reds Community Fund, St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Barnhart presented $15,000 worth of baseball and softball bats to each of five high schools at Town & Country Athletic Center in Wilder.
The combined donation will start a yearly donation from Reds Community Fund and partners including St. Elizabeth to improve youth baseball and softball in Northern Kentucky.
Bellevue High School sophomore pitcher and shortstop Arianna Dotson picked up one of six new aluminum softball bats and smiled as she put it over her shoulder.
"Softball is just my favorite sport. It's just exciting," Dotson said.
New helmets and padding have a "cool factor" that adds incentive to girls who are on the fence about playing to join the team, Dotson said.
Baseball and softball teams receiving donations included Covington's Holmes High School, the Catholic Holy Cross High School in Latonia, Newport High School, Dayton High School and Bellevue. St. Elizabeth and Reds Community Fund are making their donation through the national nonprofit Pitch In For Baseball.
Playing sports "gets kids off the couch" and aligns with St. Elizabeth's mission, chief operating officer Bruno Giacomuzzi said.
"Our vision is to lead Northern Kentucky to be the healthiest community anywhere," Giacomuzzi said.
Reds Community Fund has partnered with Cincinnati Public Schools for years including partnering directly with 14 different Cincinnati schools, the fund's executive director Charley Frank said.
Reds Community Fund has renovated 30 Northern Kentucky ball fields including remaking Meinken Field in Latonia into Meinken All-Star Field before Major League Baseball's 2015 All-Star Game in Cincinnati.
Starting this year, Reds Community Fund and St. Elizabeth have agreed to invest in equipment or other improvements for youth baseball in Northern Kentucky once each year, Frank said.
Paying for new uniforms, travel expenses and umpire expenses are other ways Northern Kentucky may be helped in future years, he said.
Barnhart said he was very fortunate to have all the equipment he could use growing up. Barnhart said he remembers how exciting getting new equipment was when he was in school.
"Every time I was fortunate enough to get a new set of gear, catching gear, it was like Christmas morning," he said.
Reds Community Fund and St. Elizabeth are sharing joy for playing baseball, Holy Cross High School baseball coach Pat Ryan said.
"When you play a pickup game with kids it feels like Game 7 of the World Series when they cross the plate with that winning run," Ryan said.
Many children in Northern Kentucky don't talk first of being excited for playing baseball any more, he said.
"We want to bring excitement and enthusiasm back to baseball in our area," Ryan said.