Graduating seniors from all nine high school baseball teams in the Santa Clarita Valley had the chance to meet up and take photos at William S. Hart Pony Baseball & Softball fields on Sunday evening.
Jeff Press, the organizer of “Where it all Began,” took the event into his own hands when he realized someone needed to step up and organize it.
“The reason it came up is I remember in 2022, there was a parent that did this, whose son was graduating from Hart High School, and my son at the time went to Hart High School and played baseball … so, I said, ‘Well, I haven’t heard of anybody organizing it this year. I’m going to do it,’” Press said.
Press organized the event in about two weeks and reached out to all of the booster presidents from each high school, he recalled.
Press added a few things to make it more memorable for each team by including some young boys to throw the first pitch to symbolize them as children playing, a red carpet to walk down on with each baseball player’s plans after high school being read aloud and someone singing the national anthem.
One reason Press wanted to bring the event back is because his son, Zach, is a graduating senior from Castaic High School.
“Santa Clarita, in my eyes, is a big town that acts like small town USA. And one of the things about our town is that people remember where they started and they remember things that were influential in their lives. And baseball’s been such a big, big part of our family,” Press said.
Press plans to bring back this event next year because he wants to continue the tradition.
