The First "First Pitch"

On Monday, I was treated to the opportunity of a lifetime, thanks to my sister Julie. She works at BECU and had entered an employee raffle for the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at the Mariners Game against the Royals. Lucky gal that she is, she actually WON the raffle! She decided she didn't want that many eyes on her at once, so she gave her husband Jeff the right to throw out the pitch.

She also invited me and her friend Dani to join them down on the field for the pitch. So we wandered around down on the field for about 45 minutes before they were ready for the pitch. Our Mariners escort kept telling us stories about the guy who ran into the dugout (although that is against the rules) and stole a baseball. I think he was trying to keep us in line.

Jeff was given the option of throwing to a ball girl or to one of our group. Because Dani is a diehard softball player and Mariner fan, we nominated her to catch for him. Jeff threw a little bit high, but Dani was able to bring the pitch down. You can see the video we took of the first First Pitch at Dani's blog. After throwing the pitch, Jeff did a cartwheel to get back to homeplate. His cartwheel was pretty sad, so you should give him some pointers the next time you see Jeff.

As we were leaving the field, I was extremely disappointed to hear that they were having another first pitch. What is the world coming to when you have TWO first pitches before the ballgame?

Julie's work had also provided fabulous seats for the game, so we were able to enjoy the M's loss that night from only 20 rows behind the Mariner's dugout. What a night!!