This year’s Hart High Baseball Boosters and the SCV Boys & Girls Club are holding a Bingo Night fundraiser Saturday, May 12.
“This brings people from the community back to school and engages them in the program,” said John Dow, vice-chair and founding member of the Arts Commission for the city of Santa Clarita, who’s also president of the Dugout Club.
“It raises money and awareness for the Hart High School Baseball program,” he said. “It’s about giving back.”
It costs $75,000 to run all three baseball teams, including the school’s freshman team, he said.
Looking at some of the many success stories of Hart alumni ending up in Major League Baseball, and the World Series, is something many people in the Santa Clarita Valley can do easily and with pride.
Supporting players whose names may not yet be widely known, however, is part of the same legacy going forward. Making sure there’s enough money to rent the bus that takes him and the rest of the freshman team to the next game is what it’s all about for the upcoming fundraiser.
At a recent tournament, the freshman team saw Will Johnson pitch a no-hitter. There’s also Matthew DeMartini, whose strong arm scoops up bouncing wild balls at third base and fires them to first. And Mateo Vasquez, who hit a ball into left field so hard many in the stands thought it might be the season’s first out-of-the-park hit. There’s strong lefty pitcher Jake Villar and Hunter Pohl, both with excellent track records this season.
They’re all striving, along with their teammates, to write the next chapter in the Hart baseball legacy.
For $40, Bingo Night will get you dinner served up by El Cholo Cafe, two drink coupons and six games of bingo. There is also a live auction for “some very special baseball memorabilia” and a 50/50 raffle.
The event begins at 5 p.m, at 24909 Newhall Avenue in Newhall.
661-287-5527
On Twitter @jamesarthurholt
