Rootstown’s Alexia Van Snick was first introduced to baseball when her uncle gave her a tee-ball set when she was 4. Her love for the game snowballed from there.
In elementary school, she joined Stow Youth Baseball and eventually moved on to play boys travel baseball and softball. Now, at 14, she’s on the junior leadership board for the National Girls Baseball Organization, Baseball For All, and is a youth coach for the Cleveland Guardians Youth Baseball Summer Camps.
This year, Van Snick added a once-in-a-lifetime achievement to her baseball bio when she was chosen from a pool of applicants from 48 states to compete in the world’s first Banana Ball Youth Tournament.
For those who aren’t familiar with the sport, banana ball was founded as an adult league in 2016 by the exhibition barnstorming baseball team the Savannah Bananas from Georgia. Banana ball differs from traditional baseball in that a variety of trick plays, dancing and pre-planned antics take place during a game for the purpose of comedic entertainment. Because of the zany aspect of banana ball, it is often thought of as a sport similar to exhibition basketball made famous by the Harlem Globetrotters.
The ball used in banana ball isn’t a regular white one, either; it’s yellow, like bananas.
There are 11 rules in banana ball that deviate from traditional baseball, and they’re all completely ridiculous. Basically, it’s baseball gone bananas.
For instance, when a batter gets a walk, which is called a sprint in banana ball, the player advances around the bases until the infielders and outfielders have all touched the ball; only then can the opposing team attempt to get the batter-runner out.
But a batter doesn’t even have to hit the ball to get on base, because stealing first is 100 percent legal in banana ball.
“It’s just baseball with all the boring stuff removed,” Savannah Bananas Youth Tournament Coordinator Aaron Pridmore said. “We try to keep the game fun and entertaining; that’s why our rules were kind of built and designed the way they were. We don’t want people spending tons of money and only having the patience to stay and watch a little bit of the game.”
The Banana Ball Youth Tournament was organized by the Savannah Bananas in partnership with Athletx Sports Group and took place at Victory Park in North Ridgeville, Ohio, from Aug. 7 to 10.
Victory Sporting Complex in North Ridgeville, Ohio, was chosen as the location for the youth tournament because the Savannah Bananas baseball team were scheduled to perform at Progressive Field on Aug. 10 as part of their world tour, which gave the players a chance to interact with the kids at the tournament.
“We wanted to pick a major league city that was on our tour,” Pridmore said. “We wanted our players to play a role in the event, as well. So, on day one, our players were there taking everyone through banana ball camps. We did an autograph session that night, we had a party, and most of the players came back the following day and watched the kids play banana ball.”
There were 73 youth teams and over 900 players that participated in the Banana Ball Youth Tournament, ages 9-14. A full list of participants and their home cities was not available.
It was April 14 when Van Snick found out she was selected to be a Ballers-Navy team player for the Banana Ball Youth Tournament.
“I follow the Savannah Bananas on instagram and my friend, she does stuff with the S.L.I.D.E. podcast,” Van Snick said, referring to the podcast Pridmore founded and hosts on youth baseball. “I saw there was an application [on S.L.I.D.E.] you could fill out to get selected, so, I asked my mom and dad about it and they said I could. A couple days later, on my birthday, we found out that I got chosen.”
Van Snick was the only girl on her Banana Ball team. There was an all-girls team that played at the tournament, too, but Van Snick said she likes the challenge of playing ball with the boys because they “play harder.”
Her batting average is .425, a number that comes from hard work and a little help from her hitting coach, Joe Abraham from Columbus. Abraham drives to Akron on Tuesdays to give hitting lessons in the Akron area. To him, banana ball is just another avenue to get kids involved in baseball.
“It’s not surprising to me at all that she got involved with youth banana ball,” Abraham said. “I can’t tell you how many girls I have that hit with me, especially around Alexia’s age, that when the Savannah Bananas came to Columbus, they went to one of those games. I think it’s cool that the girls and boys are doing it. Anything that’s going to get kids interested in the game I’m in favor of.”
Van Snick’s team, Ballers-Navy, played four games during the tournament, with two wins and two losses. The Portager attended the team’s fourth game on Friday, Aug. 9, when they played the Tricksters-Pink, aptly named because they wore pink ballet tutus during gameplay, along with inflatable bananas strapped to their backs.
The shenanigans performed by the players during the tournament were largely orchestrated by the team members’ own creativity and knowledge about the inner workings of banana ball etiquette, and even the umpires took part in the weirdness.
In one instance, an umpire gave a Ballers-Navy batter CPR after he fell to the ground and played possum after striking out; another player was hung by his ankles and bludgeoned with an inflatable baseball bat after he struck out.
Home runs, on the other hand, required different measures. One Ballers-Navy player from Wisconsin dropped to the ground and performed the centipede breakdancing move across home plate to score, after which he stood up and did the truffle shuffle for the fans in the bleachers: the crowd went wild. Another home run involved the deployment of confetti party poppers during a music-filled interlude that required the teams, the coaches and the fans to dance to music played on a PA.
“It was such a blast,” Van Snick said. “It was probably one of my favorite tournaments I’ve ever done. I loved the competition, I loved all the new friendships I made, and I liked my coaches. I feel like it gave me an insight that you don’t always have to be so serious about baseball; sometimes it’s just about having fun.”
While the Banana Ball Youth Tournament was technically a competition, the overall spirit of the event was rooted in fellowship and fun for all in attendance.
“That’s the most fun and excitement I have seen kids have on a baseball field,” Pridmore said. “I saw parents cheering together, cheering for each other’s teams. I saw kids going over into each other’s dugouts, helping pick each other up. We saw teams praying together at the end of all the games. It was incredible. We got to see a little bit of how we can coexist and everyone can have a lot of fun together.”
The tournament was a major success, and Pridmore said it’s too soon to say whether there will be another one next year, but the “outlook is good.”
