Amateur college baseball getting ready for summer
Leprechauns will play at Memorial Field
Batter Up! Memorial Field at Thirteen and Coolidge in Royal Oak will be the hot corner this upcoming summer. The Royal Oak Leprechauns will compete in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League that has been in existence since 1987. The league consists of 12 teams throughout Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and one in Ontario, Canada.
The Leprechauns hope to “bring a little luck to Royal Oak” and will play their inaugural season beginning in June with their first home game on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at 7:05 p.m. taking on a local team, Jet Box. The season will consist of a 42-game schedule.
Leprechauns President, Owner and General Manager Mark Sackett has been working out the details to get the team on the field for more than a year. The financing to finish the field, $350,000, came through a grand slam anonymous donor but Sackett hopes to be able to publicly thank the generous donor one day soon.
“We have our financing, city approval, a front office team and we’re looking for interns and more for this upcoming season,” Sackett said. “We’ll have field construction finished in March and look forward to many successful
seasons in Royal Oak.”
In addition to interns, the team has a need for host families for the players. Sackett asks anyone who may have an interest in hosting to please contact him. Memorial Field will have renovations from the dugout to the infield turf this season. Later improvements to the stands and the press box are being planned as well. Game day activities will include plenty of giveaways and between inning entertainment as well as food trucks and much more.
The Leprechaun team is a division of the USA Prime Michigan organization which originally began in Birmingham, Michigan in 1999. In 2005, with expanded growth, the organization became a nonprofit and began to include players from all over Oakland County. In 2015, USA Prime Michigan
added the Leprechauns and Sackett signed with the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League and began this program at Siena Heights University. He moved the team to Royal Oak and to Memorial Field in 2018 where Sackett knows there are plenty of baseball fans who will be attracted to the team.
“It’s wood bat, nine-inning games, just like a minor league baseball program in a sense,” Sackett said. “It’s all about family fun.”
Sackett has the full support of the city and has been working on dugout and field renovations before COVID restrictions shut everything down. He’s now looking for interns and other organization employees but mostly, he’s happy to be bringing amateur collegiate baseball to Royal Oak.
“I can’t thank the city and our fans enough for this opportunity,” Sackett said. “I’m appreciative of all of our benefactors, the construction teams and everyone else who has given of their time, sweat, blood and especially to the city of Royal Oak for their trust and patience in our organization.”
Sacket noted “the Royal Oak Leprechauns were started to provide players motivation for an education. Playing baseball will keep kids in school and motivated to continue their education.”
If you would like more information about the Royal Oak Leprechauns, please contact Mark Sackett at 248.930.0388 or email him at mark@ leprechaunball.com. Play ball and batter up!