Helping hand: Baseball team lends opponents gear after theft
Little league teams compete in Sacramento to play in World Series
Little league teams compete in Sacramento to play in World Series
Little league teams compete in Sacramento to play in World Series
A baseball team competing in Sacramento for a shot to go to the Little League World Series was dealt a major blow after someone stole all of their equipment.
When they were set to leave the Crowne Plaza on Date Avenue just hours before their game, they found that their trailer packed with gear was gone.
“Every piece of baseball equipment that these kids and this team owned, bats gloves, helmets,” the team’s parent volunteer Ken Pelesky said.
Pelesky drove the truck and trailer down from Billings, Montana, earlier in the week and was horrified to find it missing. He worried the team wouldn’t be able to play.
“We asked them if they wanted to continue in the tournament, or if they wanted to forfeit,” Pelesky said. “They said absolutely, we’re not going to forfeit.”
Instead, they turned to their opponents for help. The team from Washington State stepped up to the plate and offered to share.
“My first thought is: Where are they going to get gear? How did this happen? How could it happen? And, I wanted to help,” 15-year-old catcher Xavier Wilkening-Joly said.
“I gave them my whole bag so bat, helmet and mitt,” third baseman Sam Bennett said.
While breaking in new cleats and catching with a foreign glove isn’t ideal, it beats not playing at all.
“We all got brand new cleats on,” Montana All-Stars catcher Blake Olstad said. “That’s not very comfortable -- just make it work.”
Shortly after the first pitch, Citrus Heights police called to say they had found the truck and trailer at an apartment complex off Auburn Boulevard.
Unbeknownst to the boys, who are more than 1,000 miles from home, all 14 bags went untouched. Their gear was safe.
A team parent went to retrieve the truck and trailer during the game. The parent said the trailer was reported by a resident at the apartment complex, who said it was left there and had been sitting in the carport for hours. Police have not made any arrests.
The team from Washington, which didn’t play Friday, made it to the next round of the tournament Thursday.
Friday night, the Montana All-Stars won 11-1, and also moved onto the next round of the tournament.