Royal softball girls raised $3,600
The entire Royal fastpitch team poses for its prom picture before the historic game. The sultry, leggy one toward the left is Luis Valdez. He challenged the girls to raise as much money as possible and offered the deal that, if one girl raised $1,000 independently, he would wear a dress. McDarra Von Stein met the challenge. On the left, the stars were aligned perfectly with Samantha Noftle pitching.
ROYAL CITY - Leave it to a bunch of nutty, small-town country girls to come up with this one: Fastpitch in prom gowns to raise funds for the program.
The idea went over so well that the community donated $3,600 to their program development cause. And the girls looked all pretty and dainty prancing around the diamond, when they weren't verbally accosting, or otherwise tormenting umpire Pete Christensen, that is. Assistant coach Heather Verhey even kicked dirt at him.
"He did make some crazy calls, calls I'd never seen before," coach Robyn Valdez said.
The contest drew a larger crowd than normal for fastpitch. Valdez said the fans laughed, the players laughed, the umpire laughed and even she laughed.
This whole thing started when coaches, players and parents started to wonder what kind of fundraiser would bring more than the usual couple hundred bucks.
"In an effort to build the program, we have been pushing the girls to attend camps and clinics," Valdez said. "Unfortunately these things aren't free and, even worse, they aren't cheap."
The team's "amazing group of parents" did some brain storming and searching online for unique fundraisers. What they found was brilliant, and the girls plan to make it an annual event.
It's called Fastpitch Prom.
Each girl went out to local businesses looking for sponsorships. There was an overwhelming amount of support. By the time the dust settled, the program had $3,600 for scholarships.
"We just want to say thank you to all the sponsors, parents, and spectators who made it such a fun and successful event," Valdez said. "We should be able to send as many kids as want to go to camp for very little out of pocket cost."
Valdez chose two captains to pick teams from among all of the girls in the program. They came up one player short. So they put assistant coach Luis Valdez at second base.
The teams were balanced, and the game ended with a final score of 10-9. There were prizes for best catch, best hit, and the girl who raised the most money.