On April 21, the Special Olympics softball team, the Poway Padres, and a company team from General Atomics Aeronautical (GA-ASI) came together to play in a fun community game.
The team from GA-ASI was made up of two representatives from eight different teams in the company softball league. General Atomics, headquartered in Torrey Pines, is a defense and diversified technologies company. The GA-ASI is a leader in unmanned aerial systems and employs over 2,000 people in Poway.
As coach of the Poway Padres, I initiated a discussion last year about having a community game with General Atomics executives Diana Hagerty and Jeff Hettick, and they were excited to make it happen. Melissa Tougher did a super job handling the lineup details.
Player profiles were used each time players came to bat. Thanks to Melissa for pulling that information together. She also played and pitch ran for a few teammates who wanted to play despite being injured.
Sean Melvin, owner of Sportsplex USA Poway, was gracious to make a field and his staff available for the game.
Special thanks to John Couvrette, CFO of the Poway Chamber of Commerce and owner of Halcyon Real Estate for doing another great announcing job of lineup and play-by-play commentary. He is becoming a fan favorite.
The sound system was set up by Matt Iske, founder of the growing Poway Unified esports program in Poway and Rancho Bernardo, which has now expanded to Ramona.
Jason Adams, longtime softball umpire in Poway, was gracious to donate his time and fill in for long-time Poway Padre favorite umpire, Doug Vick, who was out of town.
“Everyone had a great time and we look forward to doing it again later on this year,” Melissa said.
The Poway Padres have begun their spring training practices at RB Recreation Sundays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. until mid-June. The regular Special Olympics Softball season begins in August and goes until the end of October.
