Dothan’s Hannah Foster headed to all-star festivities

By David Mundee

Published: June 26, 2008

Less than three weeks from now, Hannah Foster will be in America’s biggest city and one of the world’s most well-known cities.

And she will be there doing one of the things she loves best — playing baseball.

The 10-year-old from Dothan will participate in a girls’ Pitch, Hit and Run contest held in conjunction with major league baseball’s all-star week at New York’s Yankee Stadium, July 14-15.

“I am excited. I can’t wait,” Foster said.

The Pitch, Hit and Run contest is Monday morning, July 14. Foster will also have an opportunity to catch fly balls in the outfield during major league baseball’s Home Run Derby later that night and attend the MLB all-star game the next night.

The contest features kids in pitching accuracy and range (ability to throw six pitches from 35 feet away to certain target areas), hitting for distance (three hits off a tee) and running the bases (time from second base to home plate).

Joining her on the trip will be her mom and dad, Mark and Crystal Foster, and 16-year-old brother, Caleb.

Living in a sports family, Foster has “grown up with baseball,” said Crystal Foster. That culture has developed her love of the game.

“She is a big baseball fan,” Crystal said.  “Soccer is her first love. Baseball comes in a close second.”

She is also big into basketball, having competed in several local and regional Hoop Shot contests.

Foster plays baseball locally in the Dothan recreation leagues. She is a pitcher and first baseman. Recently, she made all-stars for one of the Dothan teams, which starts its sub-district tournament today.

She follows Major League Baseball regularly. The Boston Red Sox are her favorite team, and Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is her favorite player.

While she will be in famous New York City and see many of the area’s historic landmarks, Foster is more focused on the baseball part of the trip.

“Meeting the players and being on the field,” Foster said when asked what she is most excited about.

Crystal said that has been a constant theme of her daughter in recent weeks.

“She is so excited, she can’t stand it,” Mrs. Foster said. “I don’t think she understands or grasps the whole thing of what is going on (and of New York City), but she has been watching baseball so long and she knows the names. She keeps saying, ‘I hope so-and-so is there.’ ”

Foster earned her way to New York after placing in the top three nationally in her age group for the Pitch, Hit and Run contest, a pilot program this year for girls. The program was conducted in 10 states, including Alabama.

Foster competed in the local Pitch, Hit and Run contest at Doug Tew Park on April 23. She finished second in her age group and qualified for the Super Regional in Birmingham on June 7.

The local contest at Doug Tew featured boys and girls competition, but the Birmingham event was for girls only. It also was softball-oriented, something of a curve ball for Foster, who had never played with a softball before.

“She had played baseball (all her life), so we bought a softball for her and practiced a couple of days, pitching to specific target areas,” Crystal said. “The hitting and running was pretty much the same.”

Despite her inexperience with throwing a softball, Foster excelled, hitting all six targets for a perfect score.

“She got up there and aced that,” Crystal said.

Though she was perfect on her throws, Hannah said it’s not her best phase of the three.

“I like running more,” she said.

Her scores at the Super Regional ranked her in the top three nationally. The three finalists will compete in New York.

While in New York, she will get a chance to do something few will ever get a chance to do again — play in historic Yankee Stadium. The venerable 85-year venue will be imploded after the season. A new Yankee Stadium was built across the street.

The old stadium, dubbed by some as The Cathedral of Baseball for its rich history, has been the site of many championship events and home stadium to many of baseball’s all-time greats, including Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.

It also was the site of many of boxing’s most famous fights, including the legendary Joe Louis-Max Schmeling fight in 1938, and was where legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne made his now famous, “Win one for the Gipper” speech in 1946. It also was host to masses by four different Popes.

This year’s all-star game will be the fourth at the stadium, tied for most of any stadium in MLB history.