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Clearfield to host Potter Baseball Tour on Thursday
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
For the third year in a row, the Potter Baseball Tour is coming to Clearfield.
And once again, a player from Clearfield is on the team.
Billed as a celebration of the greatest game ever invented, the tour takes a team of youth baseball players to many different towns to play games, be educated on the baseball history of those towns, and at least for that day, bring the people of the community together.
The kids also get together to perform a community service while visiting each town.
The Potter Tour team will play two games Thursday at Lawrence Township Rec Park, taking on the Jim's Sports Center 14U team at 10 a.m. and then tangling with the Wise Eyes Optical 16U team ay 1:30 p.m.
Friday, the touring team and both Clearfield teams will go store-to-store in downtown Clearfield, cleaning up store fronts.
"It's a great opportunity for every kid that takes part in it," Wise Eyes manager and Clearfield varsity head coach Sid Lansberry said. "It's not just baseball, it's community service, too.
"Every year, they do something good for the community, using baseball as a motivator to do good."
Following in the footsteps of Clearfield baseball players Kurtis Krise, and Wyatt Westen and Seth Ford, who played for the touring team in 2010 and 2011, respectively, Brandon Orsich is playing for the Potter team this year.
"He volunteered himself," Lansberry said. "Jeff (Potter, who is the founder of the tour) sends emails and there is a website the kids can check out. Several kids were interested, but it narrowed down to Brandon as he was the most interested in doing it."
Wood bats are used in the game. There is a traditional "bat toss" before each game, and the emphasis is on sportsmanship and playing the game the right way.
"This isn't an all-star game," Lansberry said. "It has more to do with the character of the individuals and how coachable they are. The kids are like good-will ambassadors for baseball. It's a good concept."
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