Baseball Game Benefits Servicemembers

The Wildcats baseball team swung hard for charity on Saturday, playing a benefit home game against Herndon High School to raise money for an effort that helps rehabilitate servicemembers injured in combat.

The Wildcats wore special camouflage jerseys for the game, where admission was free. Donations at the gate went to the Wounded Warrior Project, said Morgan Spencer, Centreville High School varsity baseball coach. The project helps those with injuries, especially those suffering from traumatic brain injury, as they transition to civilian life.

Rich Fite, of Centreville, whose son Bret is the Wildcats starting left fielder, helped organize the effort. Fite, a Navy captain who receives medical treatments at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, sees first-hand the challenges that wounded servicemembers face and wanted to do something to help them. 

“We wanted to do this to give back to those wounded warriors who have given us so much,” Fite said on Saturday, just before the first pitch. “We want to improve awareness and show everyone, especially our ballplayers, what these sacrifices are all about.” 

Mary Russell, a baseball mom and volunteer, said the game created some buzz in the community as she solicited donations from local businesses, who willingly contributed gift cards that were used as items for a raffle. “We got a really good response from the business community,” Russell said.

The local salon, at the Colonnade Shopping Center on Union Mill Road, set up a booth and offered $16 haircut vouchers, with all the proceeds going to the WWP, said Danielle Patterson, a stylist from the salon.

“It’s great that they are doing this benefit game,” Patterson said. “They [servicemembers] are putting their lives on the line and anything that we can do is great.”

They had planned to give haircuts at the game, but the cold, windy weather on Saturday made that a daunting task, she said.

In fact, ground crews spent most of Saturday working on the fields to dry it out after the soaking rains on Friday, said Centreville High School Principal Michael Campbell.

The game was especially poignant for two buddies, Patrick Jefferson, 26, and Donald Spring, who both had been deployed to Iraq. Jefferson, an ex-Marine, was deployed to Iraq in 2006-2007. Spring, serving in the National Guard, will redeploy to Iraq next month.

“This is a great project and it helps raise awareness for those who are injured,” said Spring, who was attending his first benefit baseball game on Saturday.