ITEM PHOTO BY KATIE MORRISON
Kevin Ronningen of North Shore Medical Center presents Lynn Babe Ruth with a check for $5,000 for its trip to the Babe Ruth World Series at Fraser Field Thursday afternoon. From left, front row: Luke Boisselle, Zach Elwell, coach Sean Leydon, Tony Luciano, Jeff Earp, Kevin Ronningen, manager Leon Elwell, coach Ryan Boisselle, Aedan Leydon, Christian Burt, AJ Luciano, Kevin Durant. Back row, from left: Mike Leavitt, Dayshon Anderson, James Wilkins, Danny Lilja, Brett Bucklin, Matt Gisonno, Anthony Nikolakakis, David Barnard and Erick Ubri.
BY STEVE KRAUSE
LYNN — North Shore Medical Center has contributed $5,000 to Lynn Babe Ruth baseball to fund its 15-year-old all-star team’s trip to the World Series.
Partners answered Babe Ruth’s fundraising plea Thursday, presenting coaches and league officials with the check to put toward the team’s $35,000 trip to North Dakota. The team will play its first game on Saturday, Aug. 13.
“North Shore Medical Center supports any initiative where people are doing good things in the community,” said spokesman Kevin Ronningen, who presented the check to Lynn Babe Ruth board member Jeff Earp, manager Leon Elwell and Tony Luciano, the father of one of the players, and the one who contacted NSMC.
“This donation really gives us a boost in our goal to raise money for the trip,” said Luciano, president of Wyoma Little League and a Babe Ruth coach.
Luciano said the league is raising money to defray the cost of lodging for the team’s 15 players and to help families make the trip as well. Babe Ruth picks up the tab for transportation for all managers, coaches and players.
Ronningen said NSMC supports youth sports endeavors whenever it can. Two years ago, he said, the hospital donated money to Lynn Shore Little League so it could put a press box at its field at Kiley Park.
“This goes perfectly with our mission of promoting a healthy community,” he said.
While Luciano made the initial overture to NSMC, Ryan Boisselle, one of the coaches on the team, made the arrangements.
“When (Ronningen) talked about a $5,000 check, it just blew me away,” Boisselle said. “We thought maybe we could get them jackets for winning the regionals, or perhaps they could help us with food because you know they’re going to eat like horses out there. But $5,000? We never expected that.”
The team earned the right to go to the World Series when they won the New England Regional Tournament at Fraser Field, defeating North Providence/Smithfield, R.I., last Tuesday in the final. Since then, the league’s executives have reached out in several different directions in efforts to raise money. The players themselves have raised $4,000 through canning, and a GoFundMe page created Boston College women’s hockey goalie Katie Burt, whose cousin, Christian, is on the team, was up to $9,005 by Thursday morning.
“Even if I didn’t have a cousin on the team, I felt as if this was something I should do,” said Burt, an all-star for Lynn Babe Ruth baseball for three years. “I know that if it had been me going to the World Series, and I knew someone was working like this on my behalf, I would have thought it was very special.”
The fundraising is still going on. Thursday, Gannon Golf Course sponsored a “Night at the Races,” with proceeds going to the team; The North Shore Navigators hosted the players at their game against the Bristol Blues and had a 50-50 drawing for them; and there was a paint night at Old Tyme Italian Cuisine in Lynn.
Steve Krause can be reached at skrause@itemlive.com.