The First Pitch before 10,000 people

Fri 3 Jul 11.34pm

Today was such a special day for me! I had a surprise in the morning during the Village meeting when Mary-Frances announced that the Guides in GV decided to let me be the one to throw the first pitch at the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs baseball stadium.

(In the top picture, the lady beside me is my Project Mentor - Ioana Belu of Romania. She was probably one of the Guides who recommended me for the First Pitch)

The 'first pitch' is a tradition in baseball where someone special (e.g. celebrities, dignitaries, etc, or in this case someone from Lehigh GV) pitch the FIRST ball to the catcher to signal the start of the baseball game. Originally, it was announced at the beginning of the program that the honour would go the the Guide whose guide team had the most punctual attendance.

When it was a tie between a few guides, they made the decision to select a GV intern to throw the first pitch. Mary-Frances first announced that this intern was me and later said that Suliman of Libya was also recommended due to his progress in GV. And there were 2 interns to represent Lehigh but only 1 of us could pitch.

So over at the Iron Pigs baseball stadium, McKenzie flipped a coin and turned out it was confirmed that I would represent Lehigh to pitch.

Here's my FIRST time ever at trying to pitch a baseball. My turn was towards the end. But in the meantime, you can see how the other people pitched. Watch out for the 55th sec where it was finally my turn and listen out for the announcer saying "representing Lehigh University Global - Sherwin Lim". (The video on this blog is very small. If you'd like to view full screen, please look at the video I posted on Facebook)

After the game, the main highlight as to why all of us were at the baseball stadium is the 4th July Fireworks! It was one of the MOST spectacular night scene I have ever witnessed in my entire life! The scene was breath-taking and I was filled with emotions as I looked with awe at the entire fireworks display that lasted 10 mins. We were also given a special 3-D glass to wear to enhance the effect of the fireworks.

The sight was absolutely stunning! Here is but one of the many videos that I took of the display. I am showing the best video and this is the climax of the fireworks display:

It's now 12.20am in the morning and I am feeling tired. But I still have the desire to blog about the evening's event because such beautiful experience and sights don't come by everyday.

The honour to hear your name announced at a stadium packed with thousands of people is one of the more memorable moments in life. The privilege to be granted a chance to represent Lehigh University to throw first pitch is a humbling one - one that is even stronger than the former honour.

The memories of this evening will definitely will etched deeply into my mind and I won't be forgetting the experience anytime soon. It was simply stunning and incredible!