High school brings special gifts for active military members to Hits for Heroes

Several area high school baseball teams took the field tonight to try to knock some hits for our heroes.

After starting with its opening ceremonies and some college games on Saturday, the 7th annual Hits for Heroes is in full swing.

Hits for Heroes combines America's favorite past time with America's favorite heroes.

It's two weeks of almost non-stop baseball featuring many Wiregrass high school teams in an effort to raise money for active military and veterans.

One of the teams that played travelled from pretty far away, but the coach believes the drive was worth it for the cause.

"With this being a veteran’s thing, we've got a lot of kids on the team that have veteran backgrounds and current and active military,” said Jackson High School Baseball Coach Dwain Dorman. “It's something for them that they can look back on, and see, and really support."

Dwain Dorman brought his team all the way across the state to participate in Hits for Heroes.

He made sure his players brought more than just their bats and gloves.

Each player wrote a letter to an active military member.

"We're at practice, we get to come home to a warm, home-cooked meal from mom and dad,” said Dorman. “We got a roof over our head. There's people fighting for what we believe in and giving us the opportunity to play this game that we love."

Last year, Hits for Heroes raised more than $50,000 for several different charities benefiting the military, but most goes to Jeep Sullivan's Wounded Warrior Adventures, which funds trips for veterans with post-traumatic stress.

"Enables them to get back in the outdoors with some of their comrades, some of their brothers-in-arms, and it enables them to set up a network - maybe some new guys that they've never even met before,” said Jeep Sullivan.

While the main purpose of the event is to raise money, event coordinators also want it to raise awareness for our military, and Hits for Heroes Director Angela Dunning thinks that the handwritten letters are a clear indication that it is working.

"It's not just about baseball,” said Dunning. “It's about the guys we wrote letters to, or the women we wrote letters to, that are serving our country right now. It puts it all together for them, and hopefully makes them think about it during the rest of the season when they have that jersey on again."

Writing those letters must have been some kind of morale-booster because Jackson High School mounted quite a comeback.

After being down nine runs, they we're able to pull out a walk-off victory against Eufaula in the bottom of the 10th.

You can find information on how to donate to Hits for Heroes on its website:

https://www.hitsforheroes.org/get-involved