SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — “Showtime,” not “play ball,” is what the announcer exclaimed before the first pitch at the Banana Ball World Tour game in Salt Lake City on Saturday night, where the Firefighters beat the Party Animals 6-4.
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The players, a.k.a. cast members, included Firefighters pitcher Bret Helton of Salt Lake City, who played baseball for the University of Utah. The music inside Bees Stadium, which for every other minute of the game blared familiar pop song choruses, played Helton on with “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” On the mound, he sported a University of Utah t-shirt before stripping it off to reveal a University of Utah emblem shaved into his chest hair. The crowd went wild.
It was the third game of a three-game series between the two teams, and the first time the national phenomenon and sports-entertainment juggernaut that is the Banana Ball Championship League made a stop in Utah…