Peanuts and Cracker Jacks might have been replaced by snow cones and funnel cakes, but the Northwest Arkansas Naturals played ball Monday with a special group of fans in Arvest Ballpark. Roughly 4,800 students from the region attended the game.
The Naturals organization provides free tickets for schools who receive Title I money — awarded to schools with significant numbers of students living under poverty income levels.
The Naturals hosted more than 14,000 fans in three games dedicated to students this fall, said Dustin Dethlefs, marketing and public relations manager for the Naturals. Teams across the Texas League offer similar programs with mid-week day games.
He reports the Naturals also work with local schools on fundraising and other activities.
Admittedly, many students expressed more excitement over lunch than the game. Alex Martinez and Edward Morales from Springdale’s Alternative Learning Education center chowed down on chili cheese fries as the game played out behind them, and the funnel cake line blocked the thoroughfare behind the seats.
But the kids were ready fans when the words “Make Some Noise” and a sound meter posted on the scoreboard. They sang along with popular chants. And Wyatt Vancleave, Colton Crouch and Jenrry Umana of Sonora Elementary invented their own dances while sitting on the outfield berm.
Chloe Lane, a third-grader at Sonora, finished a jump on the park’s inflatables behind left field. And about the game?
“I watched it for a little while,” she said.
Payton Wood of McNair Middle School in Fayetteville picked up a ball fouled off in the stands behind home plate and climbed through the seats showing his friends.
“It was coming down, and we saw it … Can I leave out the cowardly part?” he said of his triumph. “I got under the ball.”
Wood said he would put it up in his room with other special baseballs and his certificate for most-improved student.
“I like the hitting the best,” said Sonora fifth-grader Diego Castellanos after the Naturals scored a run in the second inning.
True baseball fans sat in the grandstand behind home plate. Perry Humphrey, Caleb Soller, Logan Smart and John Jenkins, third-graders from Charleston, actually watched the game.
The boys play on two baseball teams in Charleston, and a game between the two teams was scheduled for Monday night. The boys play a variety of positions on their teams.
“I like baseball a lot,” Jenkins said. “I hit a home run. I have trophies and medals.”
Did the boys think their teams could beat the Naturals? “No,” they said in unison with their eyes growing big, seemingly afraid they would have to play the AA minor league team.
Why not? “Because they can go fast,” Smart said.
Lane noted a similar difference between baseball and her sport, softball. “You run a lot faster than in softball,” she said.
Sure, the game provided a fun time for the end of the school year, but the kids got to see and apply some of what they learned during the school year.
Eric Cole, physical education teacher at Sonora Elementary, said his students studied a unit on baseball this year.
“We talk about throwing, catching and hitting,” he said. Older kids got a chance to play a form of baseball in the gym, and younger kids tried hitting the ball from the tee, Cole said.
“We talk about geometry and addition with the older kids, and about shapes with kindergartners.”
Sonora fifth-graders Joel Flores and Dylan Borja kept track of players stats on the scoreboard, quoting the height, weight, hometown and birthday of outfielder Carlo Testa: 6 feet, 3 inches; 218; Tallmadge, Ohio; Dec. 16, 1986.
Noah Hillyard converted measurements to metrics and considered the angles of the stadium, the field and balls hit.
Sonora Middle School math teacher Holly Mast reported her students created their own fantasy league teams a few weeks ago.
“They had to create their own franchises,” she said. “And every day, we kept stats on the Naturals. Then we graphed the stats. We used multiplication, addition, measurements … .”
“It’s a great day,” Dethlefs said.
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LAURINDA JOENKS IS A FEATURES REPORTER AT THE MORNING NEWS AND HAS LIVED IN SPRINGDALE SINCE 1990.