MOOSIC, Pa. — “I just, I just can’t wait it to start, I can’t wait,” said Jason Kephart from Portage.
That’s the feeling of many baseball fans in the crowd as they waited for the gates of PNC Field in Moosic to open, and Friday night’s Banana Ball game to begin.
“I’m just happy about him bringing me over here, it’s insane man, I can’t even speak right now,” said Andrew Frey from West Wyoming.
Roughly 10,000 people packed the ballpark to see The Firefighters take on the Loco Beach Coconuts.
Some folks drove all the way from near Altoona to get here.
“Yeah, I was excited. We thought it was in PNC Park in Pittsburgh when she bought the tickets, but it was PNC Field in Scranton,” said Buddy Kephart from Portage.
Within an hour of tickets going on sale, Shawn Reilly, the President and General Manager of the RailRiders, says all 20,000 available tickets to the Banana Ball were sold.
“The Bananas told us they had more interest from Scranton than pretty much any city in their whole circuit this summer,” said Reilly.
Reilly also said part of the reason the Banana Ball made a stop here was because of some recent upgrades.
“The Bananas put out a show, and they want to go where there’s a nice video board and a sound system, and this off-season, we enhanced and increased our video board, and we repaired the sound system, and once we did that, we became eligible in their eyes to get this event,” explained Reilly.
But it’s because of the show, the dances, and the chance to meet the team that some say makes the Banana Ball so much more of a spectacle than a regular game of baseball.
“It wasn’t the same because you don’t get the player interaction like you do with Banana Ball. I believe that’s why everybody comes to these events now,” said Calvin Schoch from Stroudsburg. “You’re more involved rather than sitting in the stands watching.”
Friday’s game was only half the fun. On Saturday, the Loco Beach Coconuts and The Firefighters take over PNC Field again for another unique game of ball.