PLAY BALL WEEKEND

The Pirates were proud to celebrate PLAY BALL Weekend, presented by Nike, with a series of activations and events around the region to engage the next generation of youth in the games of baseball and softball. The Pirates kicked off the weekend by announcing a key partnership with EL1 Sports, a leading national youth sports training company and the official youth baseball and softball training partner of Major League Baseball. The Pirates and EL1 will work together to facilitate the growth of the sports of baseball and softball locally by offering access to high-quality training and resources. As part of the announcement, the Pirates and EL1 opened their first official Training Center, the Bianco School of Baseball, powered by the Pirates, and held an open house for the community on Friday, June 9 where hundreds of kids and families were introduced to the Training Center's offerings. Additionally, the Pirates hosted a free clinic for 200 athletes ages 5-14 on the field at PNC Park on Saturday, June 10. The clinic consisted of five station, including the chance for participants to use Diamond Kinetics Swing Match technology to find out which Pirates player their swing is most like. Following the clinic, the Pirates engaged with hundreds of local youth at the Pittsburgh Juneteenth Youth Sportsfest in Mellon Park where participants had the opportunity to hit baseballs in a unique Pirates-branded experience, as well as through an activation set-up at No Offseason, a local training and tournament center northeast of the city.