“We just wanted to do bigger and better this year and attract more people and make it a tourney,” said Joshua’s mother Jo Fisher, who started the Field of Dreams Memorial last August.
“Last year was kind of just thrown together. We just did it and then people just started helping at the last minute.”
After last year’s event, Fisher started a committee to help plan this year’s tourney, and Saturday’s tournament represented more than two months of hard work and preparation by its members.
Applebee’s, Papa John’s Pizza and Pepsi helped sponsor the fundraiser, along with Beef O’ Brady’s, which made commemorative potato chip containers for the event, while several other businesses also donated items for the tourney raffle.
Some local celebrities also turned out to help make the second annual fundraiser a success, as Gary Sieber of WNDU’s Saturday Morning Show and DJ No Sleep of 95.7 lent their talents to the announcing booth, and Rob Sparks — of U-93’s Rob and AJ fame — threw out the first pitch at the opening game between Plymouth High School alumni, while Mayor Mark Senter threw out the first pitch at the 3 p.m. game between the local fire and police departments.
“It was fun; a lot of fun,” said Fisher. “Maybe they’ll want to come back next year.
“The community’s been wonderful. They’ve come together. We’ve gotten raffle things donated. I don’t think there were too many that turned it down... I think everybody was pretty generous.”
“It’s a feel-good thing,” said Bethel head baseball coach Seth Zartman, who lent tournament players Pilots uniforms for the second straight year. “Some-body that’s willing to do a benefit like this, it gets a lot of the community people involved, and it’s a good thing for the community. I hope (Jo Fisher) can continue to grow it and make it bigger, and this can be something that people look forward to every year.”
Proceeds from the annual fundraiser go to the Joshua Fisher Scholarship Fund, for one graduating PHS senior with a C average or better. The recipient is selected on the basis of numerous criteria, including participation in at least three trimesters of high school athletics and extra curriculars such as band and choir — in which Joshua Fisher also participated — and applicants are required to write an essay and furnish references and letters of recommendation.
In addition to the charitable aspects of the Field of Dreams Memorial, the event also featured some competitive baseball.
Last year’s champion PHS alumni team eked out a 10-9 victory in the tourney opener, while the local police departments topped the Plymouth firefighters 11-1 in the 3 p.m. game.
Players at the championship game stepped through a gate made of corn stalks in reference to the tournament namesake and Joshua Fisher’s favorite movie, “Field of Dreams” while the lineups were being announced. In the end the police knocked off the defending memorial champion alumni with a five-run rally in the final three innings for a 7-5 victory. LaVille High School grad Glenn Halasz surrendered five hits in nine full innings for the police and drove in three runs during the late comeback to lift his team to the championship win.
Zartman said the entertainment value as well as the good cause for the tourney both helped contribute to the allure of the annual event.
“It’s something that’s gotten out, and if you look at the way things are going today with the recession, everybody’s looking for something to feel good about,” he said. “I think this is one of those cases that people can come out for a day and have a good time.”
Those who knew Joshua Fisher remember the friendly young man both for his generosity and his ability to bring people together, a spirit that’s alive and well at his memorial.
“He’s still bringing everybody together as a memory, as a memorial type of thing,” said Jo Fisher. “Next year we’ll see what we can get. Big surprise. We just want it to grow.”