Editor/General Manager
Every spring around two million kids around the world pick up their glove, bat, and cleats and play little league baseball. For a bunch of those, when their little league season ends, they are done with baseball for the year. A chunk of those kids also play on select and travel teams, and for a special few, opportunities sometimes arrive. Korbin and Kohen Marburger were two who were presented with those opportunities.
Korbin, 12, will be travelling to Savannah, Georgia, to play in a baseball tournament, featuring teams who will be coached by the Savannah Bananas baseball team.
The Bananas began play in 2016 in the Pacific Coast League. In 2018 they introduced ‘Banana Ball’ a form of exhibition play that quickly became a TikTok sensation and propelled the team to a place where they have now sold out more than 200 straight games.
“I was playing little league and I had a Savannah Bananas bat and glove and sticker on my helmet,” Korbin said. “The coach from the other team saw me batting and asked if I would like to go play for the team.”
From July 9 to the 14, the Bananas are hosting a baseball tournament, and Korbin was one of the few invited. The Banana’s players will be coaching the kids.
“(There are) 900 kids from all over the country, and you had to be picked,” Heather Marburger, the boy’s mother, said. “All the slots were filled but they went ahead and filled out a form and then they called. There wasn’t much preparation for the trip and so (Korbin and Kohen) are trying to raise the money.
Kohen, 10, got a different invitation.
“I was playing with a travel team and after it was over the coach asked if I wanted to go play in a tournament on their team and I said yes,” Cohen said. “There is a World Series tournament in Galveston and I am going to go play in it.
Kohen’s team will be from Victoria, but the tournament will have kids from all over Texas.
“They really wanted him to be a part of the team,” Heather explained. “Once a year they do a World Series in July. They needed a fillin player and asked him. It was also all last minute.”
With both tournaments being short notice, and with boat costing money, the Marburgers used it as a learning experience.
“We’re trying to show them how, if they want to do something, there are different ways to make it work,” Heather said. “We also wanted to show them the expenses it cost to open the lemonade stand. It was kind of a life lesson.
Kohen and Korbin opened a lemonade stand last weekend to raise money for their upcoming trips.
