A call to action for one of our own! Ms. Gabby Means (age 11) is > < this close to winning a complete refurbishment of Gladstone Field in Greenfield, but she needs our help! Gabby is a contestant in the Briggs & Stratton Diamonds in the Rough Contest; her heartfelt essay to this national organization has put her in the running for a $20,000 grand prize and baseball clinic from Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Carlton Fisk! She is competing against 15 other kids from around the country and she needs our help. You can read more about Gabby's story in the Post-Gazette article below. Please vote for her here – it only takes 2 seconds!
http://www.briggsdiamondsintherough.com/
Voting ends this Sunday, May 21st, so please vote today!
Softball player, 11, makes pitch for a field like the boys’
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteFor Gabby Means, 11, it’s all about fairness. Fairness and fair balls, actually.
Gabby, of Greenfield, has long smarted at conditions on Gladstone Field, where her Pink Team plays in the Greenfield Organization’s softball league. It wouldn’t be so bad to play on an uneven, overgrown, rocky field, if it weren’t for the fact that the boys play on vastly superior Hammer Field, nearby.
“I’ve always felt it was unfair,” she said. “I think that everybody should have a fair chance of becoming as good as another person.”
When she saw an ad for engine maker Briggs & Stratton Corp.’s Diamonds in the Rough competition, she saw her chance to even the score. The company annually grants $5,000 for improvements to 16 youth ballfields nationwide, and another $20,000 to the grand prize winner, chosen through online balloting.
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