TOPEKA, Kan. – Horton’s ballpark has been quietly awaiting the crack of the bat.
A lack of funding struck out the baseball and softball programs five years ago.
“It was kind of sad,” Taytum Hooper, Horton High sophomore, said. “All the other schools around here, they have softball.”
“After I moved here and I found out there wasn’t a baseball team, I was a little upset,” Trevor Walkup, junior, said.
Students who wished to play were left with summer club teams, or worse — quitting the game entirely.
But that will soon change.
“This generous person walked in and said, ‘I’d like to write you a check and help get things off the ground,’” Larry Mills Horton principal and athletic director, recalled.
An anonymous donor gifted Horton $25,000.
It was the home run the school district needed to bring the programs back.
“It’s really cool that someone would donate to a small town like this and help out the school district so the kids can play,” Kaden Smith, freshman, said.
“I love the sport of baseball,” Walkup said. “Just getting to play with all the friends here that I made at Horton, it’s very exciting to play with them.”
It’s a win for the athletes, and for the small town of just under 2,000 with a new reason to come together.
“The stands are packed at football,” Mariah Geniuk, sophomore, said. “I feel like that could be the same with baseball and softball. It’ll be a good way to bring families together.”
“It’s gonna bring everybody closer together,” Walkup said. “Grandparents, parents coming out to watch their kids.”
“We are very blessed to live in a very, very giving community that believes in its roots and believes in what its future can hold — and also enhances these kids,” Tim Lentz, economic director for Horton Industrial Development, said. “This ballpark is for the kids and the community.”
