Sarah Patterson, a Grade 4 student at St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School in Port Hope, has received a very special reward for her participation in the game of baseball — she threw the ceremonial pitch at the April 25th Blue Jays game at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
The announcer first introduced Sarah, who has Down Syndrome, to the 20,981 attendees at the game, the first of a four-game divisional series against the Boston Red Sox, as her teacher Allison Jacques proudly looked on.
“Sarah has been participating in her school’s Girls at Bat and Challenger Baseball program,” the announcer said. “She was nominated by her teacher to be celebrated for her great participation with their Jays Care affiliate school program.”
The Jays Care Foundation — the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays — runs a free affiliate school program free programming for schools, which includes the Girls At Bat program to help increase female participation and retention in baseball, the adaptive Challenger Baseball program to empower those living with physical and/or cognitive disabilities, and the Indigenous Play Ball program to bring Indigenous youth together using the power of baseball and softball during or after school.
Sarah’s teacher Allison ran the affiliate school program with her class at St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School during physical education periods from February to April, and shared Sarah’s story with the Jays Care Foundation.
“Her standout moment was bravely volunteering to demonstrate how to hit the ball off a tee, to her entire team,” the announcer told the Rogers Centre crowd. “Sarah demonstrated great confidence in her abilities. Her confidence has grown tremendously during this program and has allowed her to make connections with her peers throughout the school. Please welcome Sarah to the field for our ceremonial opening pitch.”
The Jays Care affiliate school program is designed to encourage students who usually sit on the sidelines to participate in sport, introducing students to the game of softball/baseball and building community and teamwork. Jays Care provides all the necessary equipment, a training session for coaches, and a coaching manual outlining the eight weeks of sessions for the school.
“The emphasis is really on building confidence, teamwork, and encouraging each other,” Allison says. “Growing up playing softball in Peterborough, I loved being able to introduce students to the sport who have not had the opportunity before.”
Allison says the fast-paced program kept her students engaged and they had “a lot of fun,” with Sarah’s experience an example of its success.
“Usually Sarah sits on the sidelines during gym class, but all throughout this program she always participated and volunteered to hit the ball off of the tee.”
After Sarah threw the ceremonial pitch at Monday’s game, the Jays went on to beat the Red Sox 6-2.
This story is based on one supplied by the Peterborough, Victoria, Northumberland and Clarington Catholic School Board.
